740.0011 European War 1939/22706b
Memorandum by President Roosevelt to the Secretary of State
I enclose memorandum from Berle57 and Welles58 in regard to asking the Philippine Commonwealth to become a signer of the United Nations Pact. Frankly, I hesitate to do this at this time. I spoke to Tom Connally59 about it and he agrees with me.
I am, of course, a firm believer in carrying through our promise of independence to the Philippines, but I do not think we should modify the present law by a step which might be considered to hold out a promise to them for immediate independence if, for example, the war were to terminate early in 1943. There might be a period of repair and adjustment for two or three years for which the United States should be responsible.
P.S. Please return enclosures for my files.60