894.24/1580
The British Minister (Hall) to the Assistant Secretary of State (Acheson)
Dear Acheson: You were kind enough yesterday to think that my suggestion that some of your officers and ours might examine the problem of oil supplies for Japan was worth further consideration with a view to action. My idea was that perhaps two, or at the most three a side might be asked to examine:
- 1.
- Estimates of Japan’s stocks and requirements of oil
- 2.
- The effect on her current supplies of the withdrawal of non-Japanese tankers
- 3.
- The possible implications of ships warrants and bunker control in reducing by means of indirect pressure supplies of petroleum products reaching Japan.
You referred to Mr. Thornburg,83 and by a coincidence I met him at dinner the night after our talk. He lunched with me today to meet Mr. Wyndham-White, who knows a good deal about policy with regard to tankers. I told him of our conversation.
I am very anxious that we should keep our administrative arrangements closely in step with one another, and if you agree to go forward with the suggestion I have made, we will be happy to collaborate in any practical way.
Yours sincerely,
- Max W. Thornburg, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State.↩