811.20 Defense (Requisitions)/62
Memorandum by the Adviser on Political Relations (Hornbeck) of a Conversation With the Counselor of the British Embassy (Butler)
Mr. Butler, having called upon me at his request and having disposed of another matter (see separate memorandum),2 said that he had a second matter of which he would make mention. He said that the British Ministry of Economic Warfare had made note of the fact [Page 579] that the Japanese Embassy here had approached the Department with inquiry on the subject of the withholding by the United States Government of machine tools ordered or intended for export; the Ministry assumed that the Japanese Government would protest; the Ministry suspected that the Soviet Government might have some occasion to make similar approaches; the Ministry assumed that our policy in this matter would be likely to involve some discriminations; the Ministry thought that the Embassy should suggest that the American, the British and the French Governments should “concert” as regards replies which they would make to inquiries addressed to any one of them with regard to this matter; the Embassy felt that there ought not be any such “concerting”; and the Embassy wanted to ascertain most informally what we might be willing to say by way of comment on what Mr. Butler had just said to me.
I replied that it is a matter of public knowledge that the Japanese have approached us on this subject; that I could add that the Soviet Government also has approached us; that legislation giving legal authorization to withhold shipments of machine tools has for some days been under way and has now been passed;3 that the President has indicated what is our general attitude on the subject of supplying from our resources to countries which are “opposing force”; that we are engaged in a great program of national preparedness and it may be expected that we will proceed with all the intelligence and energy of which we are capable toward promoting our national security; that we have said that our policy is one of non-discrimination, but that it stands to reason that, in application, its effects will not be the same for all countries. I said that I felt as did the Embassy that there should not be “concerting” of replies by the American, the British and the French Governments to questions which might be asked them; but that it might be said, in all three cases, that the American Government will make its own decisions, under its own laws, and in the light of both its rights and its obligations, regarding this country’s exports. I again referred to public statements which the Department and the President have made and I intimated that in our actions we will favor countries which are “opposing force”, but, I said, our program and our procedures will, in my opinion, be based primarily on our estimate of what best serves this country’s interests.
- Not printed.↩
- For section 6 of act approved July 2, see 54 Stat. 712; also see proclamation No. 2413 of July 2, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 211.↩