641.116/2642: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in the United Kingdom ( Johnson )
373. Your 480, February 27.38 I am appreciative of the Embassy’s efforts paralleling our own to induce the British Government to resume purchases of American agricultural products. While tobacco is the most important agricultural product which has been restricted, we are continually pressing at this end for a consideration of all of our normal agricultural exports to Great Britain. I pointed out to Lothian on February 2339 that 50 percent of our entire agricultural exports ordinarily go to Great Britain and that at one swoop the British Government has cut off most of our agricultural exports to that country (exclusive of cotton); that this action is easily capable of starting an uprising of the farm population and the resulting arousal of nation-wide sentiment of an unfavorable and unfriendly nature; and that since the British Government is expending huge sums of dollars annually it might find it extremely important to consider the [Page 101] salutary effect of allotting what would be almost a nominal amount of this sum for the purchase of agricultural products in this country. The Ambassador said he would continue to work to that end.
I discussed this whole question with Ambassador Kennedy in some detail while he was here, and I am sure that he will be interested in this latest conversation here.