Office of the Historian

856A.20/70: Telegram

The Minister to the Netherlands Government in Exile (Biddle) to the Secretary of State

London, October 31, 1941—9 p.m.
[Received 9:58 p.m.]

Netherlands Series 37.

1. Van Kleffens states Netherlands Government concurs in text of communiqué as given in paragraph 3 of your 37, October 27, 6 p.m.17

2. Following are instructions as handed me by Van Kleffens which are being sent Netherlands Minister at Rio de Janeiro:

[Here follow the instructions containing text of communiqué.]

As for the time table for succeeding steps, Van Kleffens states Netherlands Government desires first to await Brazilian Government’s answer to its invitation. He adds that the time for the despatch of troops and the issue of the communiqué should await specific agreement from here.

4. He also tells me (and this may explain a certain drag in action) that the Government is greatly exercised by some particularly pernicious German propaganda at this time which seeks to exploit the presence of British troops in Curaçao to discredit the Queen and her Government with the Dutch people. According to him, six times within the past week the German radio, claiming some Spanish newspaper as authority for a report that the British, following their occupation of Curaçao, are now turning it over to the United States, asserts that this shows that the Dutch runaway Queen and Government are no longer masters in their own house and that therefore the Dutch Nazi Party should take over in Holland. Van Kleffens cites this as a major reason for treading a little cautiously and says that “as a matter of fact, we should like to wait at least a week to let this wave of confusion among the Dutch people die down”.

5. As regards eventual publicity on the question of command Van Kleffens states Netherlands authorities will bear in mind our request that they adhere to the sense of the President’s language as repeated in paragraph 2 of your 37 of October 27. They contemplate confining any public statement to the sense of the first of the two sentences [Page 829] quoted in paragraph 2, i. e., that the American Forces shall cooperate under the general direction of the Netherlands authorities. They intend to omit any public reference to the suggestion that details of cooperation can be arranged between the local authorities and the United States military commander.

[
Biddle
]
  1. Not printed; the text of the communiqué is the same as that given in telegram No. 1019, October 25, 5 p.m., to the Ambassador in Brazil, supra.↩