Editorial Note
No official record has been found of the meeting described in Sherwood, pp. 471–472, at which Roosevelt read a statement concerning [Page 203] the proposed “make-up of the Munitions Assignment Board … to be divided into two coequal parts, one at Washington, headed by Hopkins, and the other in London, headed by Beaverbrook … on a level with and independent of the Combined Chiefs of Staff.” According to Sherwood, Marshall informed the President that unless the Munitions Assignment Board were under the authority of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, with “no question of having any duplication of the Combined Chiefs of Staff organization in Washington and in London”, he could not continue to assume the responsibilities of Chief of Staff, on the ground that it was not possible to plan and execute military operations without control of the necessary matériel. Sherwood added that Hopkins supported Marshall “vociferously” both in the small meeting and in the larger meeting immediately afterward.