868.248/93
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The British Chargé d’Affaires called to see me this evening and left with me two aide-mémoires67 which were dealt with in separate memoranda.
[Page 677]Mr. Butler adverted again to the question of the proposed arrangement for the transfer of planes to Greece. He said that his Government had instructed him positively to insist that as a part of the proposed arrangement, the planes be sent to Basra on an American flagship so as not to tie up any more Allied shipping.
I said to Mr. Butler that I had just had a conversation with the Greek Minister who had informed me that the Greeks had several free ships at Honolulu, as well as vessels now loading munitions in American ports for Greece, and that he had been instructed by his Government to state that the Greek Government would be very glad to set aside a Greek vessel for the transport of the thirty planes to Greece. I said that, in view of this offer from the Greek Government, I should appreciate it if Mr. Butler would inform the British Government immediately and request that this offer be agreed to. I said I could not see why the British Government should feel that the Greek vessels were of more use lying in some Pacific port doing nothing than if they were transporting the planes so sadly needed by Greece to Basra. Mr. Butler both questioned and criticized the official ruling given by the Department of Justice to the provisions of the neutrality legislation which were held to make impossible the shipment of planes destined for Greece on an American vessel, but said nevertheless that he would communicate the request I had made of him to his Government by telegram.
- Not found in Department files.↩