740.0011 European War 1939/10173
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Welles) to the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Murray)
Mr. Murray: You may wish to discuss this in its legal aspects with Mr. Hackworth:44
My suggestion would be that we regard this as assistance to Great Britain under the terms of the Lend-Lease Bill and that as a part of this assistance we are at Great Britain’s request making this material available to the Turkish Government. Obviously the way in which this is being done is a means of gaining time. I see no particular advantage to be gained by going into the questions raised by the Ambassador and it would seem to me that you might assure him in general terms that the action we are taking is being done at the instance [Page 839] of and at the request of the British Government, while making it clear, of course, as you always do, that we are maintaining the deepest interest in the situation in Turkey and have a most complete assurance that Turkey will take every step necessary to ensure her independence and integrity.
- Green H. Hackworth, Legal Adviser.↩