Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1942, Europe, Volume II

851R.24/7

The Lend-Lease Administrator (Stettinius) to the Assistant Secretary of State (Acheson)

Washington, November 13, 1942.

Dear Dean: Attached hereto is a proposed draft of a letter on the extension of Lend-Lease aid to the French in North Africa. I would greatly appreciate your comments on it.

After getting your comments, I would like to transmit it to the President through Mr. Hopkins.⁶³

As you will recall, the President, in a letter to me dated November 11, 1941, stated that, “in order to enable you to arrange for Lend-Lease aid to the French Volunteer forces (Free French), by way of retransfer from His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom or their allies, I hereby find that the defense of any French territory under the control of the French Volunteer forces (Free French) is vital to the defense of the United States.”

Subsequently, under date of October 6, 1942, the President sent the following letter to me:

“In order that Lend-Lease aid to the French National Committee (now Fighting France) may be more effectively rendered, my letter to you of November 11, 1941, is hereby amended to remove the provision that such aid be arranged for ‘by way of retransfer from His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom or their allies’, and you are hereby authorized to arrange for Lend-Lease aid directly to the authorities of the French National Committee (Fighting France).”

The proposed directive authorizing the extension of Lend-Lease aid to “any French province, colony, protectorate, mandated area or other territory” is intended to leave the whole situation fluid and flexible, so that General Eisenhower, for example, can make the distribution directly to the persons who are going to use the Lend-Lease goods, whether they be representatives of the Fighting French or not. It is, of course, conceivable that the Fighting French may have no part in the Government of some of the newly occupied North African territory for a time at least.

One of the principal questions I have is whether or not the language selected in extending Lend-Lease aid to “any French province, colony, protectorate, mandated area or other territory” is broad and flexible enough to cover all the situations that are likely to arise in French North and West Africa, as well as in other parts of the world.

Sincerely yours,

E. R. Stettinius, Jr.

[Annex]

Draft Letter From President Roosevelt to the Lend-Lease Administrator (Stettinius)⁶⁴

[ November 13, 1942.]

My Dear Mr. Stettinius: For purposes of implementing the authority conferred upon you as Lend-Lease Administrator by Executive Order No. 8926, dated October 28, 1941, and to enable you to render more effective Lend-Lease aid to the French people, I wish to supplement the authority conferred on you in my letters dated November 11, 1941 and October 6, 1942. Accordingly, I hereby find that the defense of any French province, colony, protectorate, mandated area or other territory, not under the control of the Axis, is vital to the defense of the United States.

The manner in which such aid shall be rendered and recorded should be determined by you from time to time, after consultation with the Secretary of State.

Very sincerely yours,

F[ranklin] D. R[oosevelt]

63. Harry L. Hopkins, Special Assistant to President Roosevelt.
64. Marginal note indicates that the Office of Lend-Lease Administration was informed of Mr. Acheson’s approval. The President accepted and used this draft in his letter to Mr. Stettinius dated November 13, 1942.