Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1942, General; the British Commonwealth; the Far East, Volume I

845.00/1542c

The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to President Roosevelt

Washington, July 29, 1942.

My Dear Mr. President: In accordance with the wishes you expressed to me on the telephone this morning, I am sending you herewith the telegram for you to send to Mr. Churchill with regard to Chiang Kai-shek’s message.¹⁴ I presume that you will wish to have this message sent by Captain McCrea¹⁵ through the Navy Code.

I think I should add, however, that I do not believe the message as now drafted will be productive of any useful results. All of the information we have in the Department of State confirms the views expressed by Chiang Kai-shek that a desperately serious situation is going to break out in India after the meeting of the Indian National Congress on August 6. This is a question of vital concern to our own military and naval interests in the Far East. It would seem to me that the services of representatives of the American Government and of the Chinese Government as friendly intermediaries between the Indian National Congress and the British Government might serve in bringing about some satisfactory arrangement which would hold during the war period and could in any event, in view of the critical nature of the situation now existing, do no harm.

Believe me

Faithfully yours,

Sumner Welles

[Enclosure]

Draft Telegram From President Roosevelt to the British Prime Minister (Churchill)

Washington, July 29, 1942.

For the Former Naval Person¹⁶ from the President. I have today received a long and urgent message from Chiang Kai-shek. He asks me to regard this message as strictly confidential, but in view of its nature I naturally wish to inform you immediately of its contents.

The following is the text of this message:

[Here follows text printed on page 695.]

I shall have to give a reply to Chiang Kai-shek in the near future and I shall be grateful if you will let me have as soon as possible your thoughts and any suggestions you may wish to offer with regard to the nature of the reply I should make to him.¹⁷

14. Dated July 25, p. 695.
15. Capt. John McCrea, U. S. N., Naval Aide to President Roosevelt.
16. Code name for Winston Churchill.
17. Comment by Prime Minister Churchill regarding views of Chiang Kai-shek forwarded by President Roosevelt to him is contained in his book The Second World War, vol. iv, The Hinge of Fate (Boston, 1950), pp. 507–508.