894.24/1450
The Acting Secretary of State to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget (Smith)
My Dear Mr. Smith: The receipt is acknowledged of Mr. Bailey’s81 letter of June 18, 1941,82 in which you request my opinion relative to H. J. Res. 189, a resolution “Requesting the President of the United States of America to exercise the powers vested in him under section 6 of Public, Numbered 703, Seventy-sixth Congress, to the end that no further shipments of petroleum or petroleum products shall be made to Japan, and for other purposes”. You enclose a copy of a report82 which the Secretary of War proposes to submit to the Chairman of the House Committee on Military Affairs in regard to this matter. It is noted that the War Department does not favor enactment of this proposed legislation.
From the standpoint of foreign policy, I urge most strongly that the proposed legislation not be enacted. I entirely concur in the reasons set forth in the report which the Secretary of War proposes to submit to the House Committee on Military Affairs.
Sincerely yours,