851.85/388b: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Leahy)
Washington, December
13, 1941—5 p.m.
927. With reference to the removal of the French crews from the Normandie and other French merchant ships now in the United States ports, consideration is being given to an early requisitioning of the Normandie, the plan to purchase having been subjected to impracticable conditions.
Please telegraph urgently your views regarding the effect such a step at the present juncture would have upon the French Government particularly in connection with the use of the French fleet or other measures of military assistance for which the Germans might be pressing.
Hull