340.1115A/2478
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Chief of the Division of Foreign Activity Correlation (Gordon)
Mr. Welles had read my memorandum of July 18 concerning the questions of getting our civilians out of Germany and Italy and of our future policy as to Germans and Italians seeking to leave this country.
In general he was in agreement with the conclusions of that memorandum, though as to making concessions with respect to German and Italian civilians leaving this country in order to get ours out of Italy and Germany, he was inclined to go slow. He did not say that, once the West Point situation was settled, we should not make any concessions or exceptions, but felt that the more strict we were the more the Italians and Germans would be likely to relax their restrictions on letting our civilians leave.
At any rate, until the West Point situation is settled, not a single German or Italian is to be allowed to leave this country, just across the border into Canada or anywhere else.
After the matter of getting our civilians out of Germany and Italy is cleared up, we will have further conference on the future basic policy as to German and Italian exit visa applications. While Mr. Welles does not wish to pronounce himself definitely at this moment, he is inclined to agree that Germans and Italians shall in principle not be allowed to leave this country to go to Latin America, but only to return to Europe via Lisbon or Japan.