740.0011 European War 1939/25267
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The French Ambassador called to see me this morning at his request.
The Ambassador, apparently very casually, said that he had been reporting to his Government that all of the reports which had recently reached him to the effect that the United States was planning some attempted invasion of North Africa were false, and that, in view of the seriousness of the question, he hoped for his own sake that he would not be found to have misled his Government. I said that reports and rumors of this kind had been current for many months past and that, of course, it was obviously impossible for me or for any official of this Government to pay attention to every rumor that was circulating in times like these. The Ambassador did not seem to lay any particular stress upon his remark to me nor upon my reply.