867.24/174
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The British Chargé d’Affaires, Sir Ronald Campbell, called to see me this morning at his request.
[Page 898]Sir Ronald Campbell brought out once more the desirability of coaxing Turkey along by assuring them that the United States, under Lease-Lend, would grant special priorities for matériel to be delivered to Turkey. I replied that this matter had already been dealt with and instructions sent to our Ambassador at Ankara and that this Government had gone as far in this matter as it felt it was possible to do under present conditions. I made it clear that this Government could not agree to giving Turkey priorities over other nations actively resisting aggression, such as China, nor over the other American Republics, in whose defense we were vitally interested. He agreed fully as to the reasonableness of this position.