860D.51/486
Memorandum by the Adviser on Political Relations (Dunn) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary: Mr. Warren Pierson, President of the Export-Import Bank, told me over the telephone yesterday that the Finnish Minister had made a request of Mr. Jesse Jones25 for favorable consideration of an extension of credits totaling $30,000,000 to Finland. Mr. Pierson said that Mr. Jones had asked him to look into the matter. I inquired of Mr. Pierson whether he would be favorable to an extension of such a credit at this time. He said that he would not [Page 9] from the point of view of Finnish credit and that they probably would not consider the request at all sympathetically unless the State Department wished them to do so. He further said that Mr. Jones had suggested that he obtain the view of the Secretary of State with regard to this request.
I discussed this question with the Division of European Affairs, with Dr. Feis,26 and with Mr. Berle,27 and as a consensus of the opinions I gathered from those discussions I have informed Mr. Pierson that we feel that some extension of credit should be given to Finland for the purpose of assisting in the feeding of the Finnish people and that we hope the lending agencies will go into the matter fully with a view to extending, if possible, some assistance in the Finnish feeding problem. As to the amount and the products for which the credits should be extended, they are matters on which, of course, the Export-Import Bank would be in a better position than we to exercise judgment.
A memorandum on the subject of the Finnish credit situation up to the present is attached hereto.28