840.48 Refugees/2220
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Pell)
Mr. James G. McDonald, the Chairman, and Mr. George Warren, the Secretary, of the President’s Advisory Committee on Refugees, have asked for an appointment respectively with Mr. Welles and Mr. Long on Friday. Mr. Warren came in to give me a preview of their mission.
Mr. Warren said that the President’s Advisory Committee had more or less come to the conclusion that it would have to assume direct responsibility in the matter of political refugees in Europe who were desirous of seeking asylum in the United States. Committees were springing up on every hand, each committee with a list of candidates for admission to the United States, and already they were beginning to fight among themselves and accuse the Government of favoring one side or the other.
Warren cited the Jay Allen–Kingborn Committee, which has enlisted the interest of President Conant of Harvard, and will have as its representative in Washington one of Justice Frankfurter’s secretaries. This committee was looked upon with suspicion by the Catholic groups because of Allen’s activities in connection with the Civil War in Spain and so the Catholics were setting up their own committee. A committee had been formed to help Austrian refugees and Archduke Otto had already been to the Advisory Committee to complain that this committee was “too far to the left” and that he was setting up an Austrian “rightist” committee under the aegis of Archbishop Spellman of New York. Another committee was being set up to further the interests of French refugees and this was already splitting into several parts according to the political opinions of the sponsors. Representatives of the British (official) Czech Trust had arrived in this country with a list of 500 names of prominent Czechs now in England who wish to come to the United States. There were Italian and Spanish committees; and Belgian and Dutch committees, all contending for favorable treatment for their respective candidates and most of them panning this Government either for doing nothing or for favoring political opponents. For instance, Archduke Otto told the Advisory Committee that a C. I. O. list had been sent to the [Page 233] American Consulate at Lisbon and the persons on this list were being given precedence over everyone else.
In short, there will soon be a highly chaotic condition which may give rise to political embarrassment if the situation is not taken in hand. The President’s Advisory Committee is most anxious to have the views of the Department before it takes action and for this reason the appointments on Friday have been requested.