Editorial Note
The information given above regarding the time and place of the meeting and the guest list is taken from the Stimson diary. The dinner, which was given by Stimson and Knox, was not an official meeting and there is no indication that any substantive decisions were made. The following excerpt from the Stimson diary indicates the nature of the discussion:
“I presided, gave a toast to the King which was responded to by Sir Dudley Pound by a toast to the President. Then at the close of the meal I made a little talk of welcome to them. I recalled my recollection of 1917 when America had just declared war and a British mission for a similar purpose had crossed the ocean and came to us; how Mr. Choate and I at that time had welcomed the situation as the fulfillment of our life’s dreams of British cooperation; how now twenty-four years afterwards the same situation was presenting itself, the same hope and ideal lay before us, and this time we must not fail, but must win both the war and the peace. They all seemed to appreciate [Page 81] the talk and practically all the British members spoke to me about it afterwards.
“After dinner we sat around informally in the adjoining room and chatted over our problems. There was a very hearty spirit of cooperation and good will evidenced on all sides and not a single note, so far as I could see, intervened to mar the earnest spirit of harmony and endeavor which pervaded everybody.”