Office of the Historian

793.94/15354: Telegram

The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State

Paris, September 8, 1939—1 p. m.
[Received September 8—12:55 p.m.]

1842. I communicated the contents of your 818, September 7, 7 p.m.10 to Leger11 this morning. He replied that the information reached him most opportunely since he had received this morning from the British Foreign Office a statement of the views of the British Government on this subject.

He gave me briefly the gist of the British position which was: that unless the Government of the United States prepared to take an energetic position with regard to this matter the British Government would feel obliged to withdraw all British troops from China giving as an excuse the need for such troops in Europe.

Leger expressed his profound gratitude for the information which I had been able to give him.

Bullitt
  1. See footnote 8a, p. 238.↩
  2. Secretary General of the French Foreign Office.↩