859A.20/203/12
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
Lord Halifax called to see me this morning at my request.
I informed the Ambassador that, after consultation with the President concerning the Ambassador’s message of yesterday evening regarding Iceland, I had despatched the cable of today’s date36 to the American Consul at Reykjavik. I gave the cable to the Ambassador to read.
The Ambassador showed me a cable which he himself had despatched yesterday evening to the British Minister in Iceland which was couched in very stiff terms and which amounted literally to an instruction to the British Minister to “see to it” that the Icelandic Prime Minister sent a request to the President of the United States for assistance in defending the independence of Iceland.
I emphasized to the Ambassador the President’s insistence that British forces in Iceland should not be diminished in number at this time nor after the arrival of American forces of occupation until such time as the United States and the British Governments were fully satisfied that the number of the forces of occupation was amply sufficient to take care of the situation in the event of German attack. I conveyed the President’s opinion that the forces in Iceland should be far greater in number than those actually there.