841.24/1107
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Acheson)56
The attached telegram57 bears on a matter concerning the present status of the lend-lease discussions with the British which I mentioned earlier this week. This was that I had been informed by an official of the British Embassy that the Ambassador with the concurrence of the ranking officers of the Embassy and of other British missions in Washington had sent a very strong telegram insisting that in their view it was most imperative that the British Government accept the proposed temporary lend-lease agreement without further discussion. I was told that the new draft had not received any substantial consideration from the Prime Minister and that, if it were raised during the current discussions, he would receive from his British advisers here unanimous advice to accept and sign it. I was also told that, if this Government should fail to press the matter at this time and allow the proposed agreement to be returned to London for further discussion, it might again become bogged down in the British bureaucracy.
Mr. Winant’s telegram seems to bear out the suggestion that the present may be the ideal time for reaching an agreement.