Office of the Historian

882.20/476: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy)

Washington, July 18, 1939—2 p.m.

550. Your 956, July 8, 6 p.m. The essential portions of the information contained in your telegram were conveyed in confidence to the American Minister at Monrovia who now reports that he has been informed by the Liberian Secretary of State that he has not received any such information from the Liberian Minister in London. Our Minister was shown a communication from the Liberian Minister in London, dated July 7, stating that he had discussed the question of a defensive alliance with Sir Lancelot Oliphant36 who promised to consult immediately the Foreign and Colonial Offices and, if necessary, the Admiralty. The Liberian Minister in London referred in this report to the different attitudes displayed by France and Great Britain and stated that Great Britain had not even committed itself in principle which is of course at variance with the information furnished to you.

Please endeavor discreetly to clarify these apparent discrepancies.

Hull
  1. Deputy Under Secretary of State in the British Foreign Office.↩