Editorial Note
Since Churchill occupied guest quarters in the White House during the First Washington Conference, there took place many informal and unscheduled conversations between him and Roosevelt and/or Hopkins. In this connection Churchill has written (The Grand Alliance, p. 662): “The outstanding feature [of the Conference] was of course my contacts with the President. We saw each other for several hours every day, and lunched always together, with Harry Hopkins as a third. We talked of nothing but business, and reached a great measure of agreement on many points, both large and small.”
No American minutes or memoranda of conversation were made on any of these informal White House talks, except the final dinner meeting on January 14, 1942, post, p. 208. For most of these Roosevelt-Churchill conversations there is not even a specific indication of when they took place. With respect to the luncheon and dinner meetings, there is a brief undated memorandum in the Hopkins Papers listing fourteen days during the conference on which Hopkins either lunched or dined (eleven times each) with the President and the Prime Minister, but there is no indication of the subjects discussed on any of these occasions.
The time and the nature of some of these informal White House conversations, however, are reflected in certain conference papers or in authoritative memoir material. Where this has been found to be the case, the editors have treated the identified conversation as a conference meeting, adducing in an editorial note such evidence as has come to light of the substance of the discussion.
From various sources it appears that Roosevelt and Churchill informally discussed certain subjects that are not reflected anywhere in the records of the conference. Among these subjects are the following:
1. The maintenance of the position against the Soviet Government that frontiers in Eastern Europe must not be regarded as settled until the Peace Conference. See Churchill, The Grand Alliance, p. 695. For related documentation, see Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. i, pp. 192 ff. and 341 ff.; ibid., 1942, vol. iii, pp. 490 ff., especially p. 513; and Hull, vol. ii, pp. 1165 ff.
[Page 62]2. The possibility of making a “sacrifice landing” or opening a “second front” by United States and British forces on the continent of Europe in the summer of 1942 in case the Russian front appeared to be in serious danger. See the letter from Mountbatten to Roosevelt, cited post, p. 423. See also Forrest Davis, “The January Promise”, in The Saturday Evening Post, February 20, 1943, where it was stated that Roosevelt and Churchill told Litvinov in January 1942 that American and British forces would land in strength in Western Europe in 1942 if there seemed to be danger of imminent Soviet collapse. In a telephone conversation on July 7, 1958, Mr. Davis informed the Historical Office that his article had been based on a conversation with Roosevelt and had been cleared by the White House. No other evidence of this assurance to Litvinov has been found, and it was not mentioned in the discussions with Molotov in Washington in May–June 1942 ( Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. iii, pp. 566–594).
3. The “political situation in India”. See Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. i, p. 608. According to Hull, vol. ii, p. 1485, “no conclusions were arrived at.” See also Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, p. 209.
4. The military and political significance of China. See Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, p. 133.
5. Article VII of the draft Lend-Lease Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom. This article, which involved the question of “Empire preferences” on certain tariff rates, was raised by Hull with Churchill at dinner on January 12, 1942; see the editorial note, post, p. 195. Hull, in a memorandum dated December 30, urged Roosevelt to raise the question with Churchill (841.24/–1154a), and the President did so. The evidence for this appears in a report by Acheson of a conversation which he had with Roosevelt on January 29, 1942, in which the following statement appears:
“The President said that on several occasions during Mr. Churchill’s visit the President had brought up for discussion the Lease-Lend arrangements, but that Mr. Churchill had stated that economic relations were out of his field and had shown a strong inclination to postpone these discussions or to have them routed through other officials. In view of the pressure of other matters the President had not insisted upon these discussions because he believed that the matters would in any event be referred to London.” (841.24/1224).
For related documentation see Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. iii, pp. 1–53, and ibid., 1942, vol. i, pp. 525–537.
6. The subject of sending relief supplies to the Greek people was proposed by Hull to Roosevelt on December 31, 1941, for discussion with Churchill ( ibid., vol. ii, p. 727), but it is not known whether Roosevelt did in fact take up this subject with the Prime Minister during the conference.
[Page 63]7. The question of raising the Netherlands and Norwegian Legations at Washington and London to the rank of embassies. In an instruction for Welles on December 29, 1941, Roosevelt asked for the views of the Department of State on this proposal and concluded:
“Let me know as soon as possible, as I want to talk it over with Mr. Churchill as soon as he gets back [from Ottawa].” (124.56/108½).
Welles took up the matter that same evening with Halifax, who agreed to request a reply from his Government before Churchill returned from Ottawa on January 1. No record has been found of further discussion of the matter during the First Washington Conference, but on April 11 Roosevelt asked Welles to pursue the matter further, and in May the legations involved were raised to embassies (124.56/–109, 0020⅓, 109⅔). See Department of State Bulletin, vol. vi, May 9 and 16, 1942, pp. 402, 438.
8. The question of cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom in atomic-energy research. Although no record has been found of any discussion of this question during the First Washington Conference, a letter of February 27, 1943, from Churchill to Hopkins includes the following sentence with regard to Roosevelt’s letter of October 11, 1941, to Churchill proposing cooperation in atomic research: “In December 1941 the Prime Minister replied ‘I need not assure you of our readiness to collaborate with the US administration in this matter’.” Nothing has been found in American files to show in what form or on what date this reply was conveyed to the President.