893.24/1047½
The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to Mr. Harry Hopkins,
Special Assistant to President Roosevelt
Washington, April 21,
1941.
Dear Harry: This memorandum with enclosure was
drafted for me to give the President, but I feel it would be more
expeditious for me to send it directly to you.
As you can imagine, the morale of the Chungking Government has been
pretty low as a result of the signing of the Russian-Japanese agreement
and as a result of the military situation in the Mediterranean. It seems
to me in the highest degree desirable from the standpoint of our own
interest to do what we can to bolster that morale as rapidly as
possible. One of the most effective things we can do is to send the
Generalissimo as quickly as we can some concrete information as to what
military equipment we can make available to the National Government in
the near future.
If you agree, I shall appreciate it if you will ask General Burns to send
me a memorandum indicating what you feel we would be warranted in saying
to General Chiang Kai-shek on this point by telegram through our
Ambassador in Chungking.
Believe me [etc.]
[Enclosure]
The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to President Roosevelt
[Washington,] April 18,
1941.
Memorandum for the President
Reference that part of the telegram from the American Ambassador at
Chungking no. 140, April 17, 11 a.m., (paraphrase attached40),
[Page 632]
relating to the matter of
the furnishing to China of military supplies, a copy of which you
have presumably read.
The telegram under reference appears to raise a very important
question. A number of messages from you and from the Secretary of
State to General Chiang Kai-shek during past months have conveyed to
General Chiang repeated expressions of our friendliness and of
general encouragement to the Chinese cause. We could, of course,
send General Chiang a further message of that nature in regard to
his remarks as described in the telegram under reference. However,
in view of the recent conclusion of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality
pact and its discouraging effect upon Chinese morale, and in view of
the indication as revealed in the telegram that some Russians at
Chungking are apparently endeavoring to weaken the confidence of the
Chinese Government that the United States will aid China
substantially, it is believed important that in such reply as may be
sent to Chiang Kai-shek there be given to the extent possible
concrete information as to the amount and character of the supplies
this country proposes to furnish and as to what material progress is
being made toward that end.
In the light of these considerations and of your statement to press
correspondents on April [March] 1541
that nothing has happened lately to change the general policy of
giving aid to nations which resist aggression, and that this
includes China, you may wish to ask Mr. Harry Hopkins, as supervisor
of purchasing operations by all countries to which provisions of the
Lend-Lease Act are now applicable, to look into the question of the
furnishing of such aid to China with a view to providing as far as
possible concrete and definitive information which may be
communicated to General Chiang. A list of the military supplies
needed by China was recently handed by Mr. T. V. Soong to General
Burns in the absence of Mr. Harry Hopkins.
