847.24/79¾
The Secretary of State to President Roosevelt54
My Dear Mr. President: On May 30, 1942 you approved, as a basis for negotiation, draft exchanges of notes with the British Ambassador and the Australian Minister concerning the principles and procedures applicable to the provision of aid by the Governments of the United Kingdom and Australia to the armed forces of the United States.
[Page 556]I enclose revised drafts of the British and Australian notes56 which have been approved by the British and Australian Governments. The changes, other than purely verbal ones, which have been made in the British note from the draft which you approved have been indicated. I believe them to be more of form than of substance and to be unobjectionable from our point of view.
The places in which the Australian note differs from the British one have also been indicated. You will notice that the second paragraph of the Australian note accepts the principles contained in the agreement of February 23, 1942 between the Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom as governing the provision of mutual aid between the Australian and United States Governments. You will also notice that in paragraph 3 the theaters in which Australia will furnish reciprocal aid to our forces are limited to “Australia or its territories and in such other cases as may be determined by common agreement in the light of the development of the war”. The Australian Government, in view of its limited resources and of the unpredictable development of the war in the Pacific, is not willing to give a blanket commitment to furnish reciprocal aid to our forces anywhere. The Australian Minister, nevertheless, assures me that his Government will be more generous in practice in this respect than it is willing to bind itself in advance to be. I believe the language on this point to be satisfactory.
There are also enclosed drafts of a note from the New Zealand Minister56 and of a letter from the Fighting French National Committee to General Bolte,57 Military Attaché accredited to the Committee. The language of these two documents has not been finally agreed, but I do not think that it will be substantially changed.
Paragraph 3 of the New Zealand note may possibly be changed to the form used in the Australian note. You will notice that the first two numbered paragraphs of the Fighting French National Committee’s letter incorporate the first two paragraphs of the basic lend-lease agreements. The letter otherwise follows the form of the British and Dominion notes. If the New Zealand and French documents should be changed in any substantial way, I shall again refer them to you.
These drafts have the approval of the War, Navy and Treasury Departments, the Office of Lend-Lease Administration and the Board [Page 557] of Economic Warfare. I also enclose copies of the proposed replies to the respective notes.58
If you approve, it is hoped to effect these exchanges in the immediate future, possibly on Friday. I believe that these exchanges of notes, which formally record the action of the British, Australian and New Zealand Governments and the Fighting French National Committee in furnishing the reciprocal aid to which you have already referred in your reports to Congress, will further strengthen the support which the country has given to the lend-lease program.
Faithfully yours,
[Agreements specifying the principles and procedures applicable to the provision of aid to the United States and its Armed Forces by the Governments of the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand were concluded on September 3, 1942, by exchange of notes between the Secretary of State and the British Ambassador, the Australian Minister, and the New Zealand Minister. For texts of these respective agreements, see Department of State Executive Agreement Series Nos. 270, 271, and 272, or 56 Stat. (pt. 2) 1605, 1608, and 1611.]