851R.01/18: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Algiers (Cole)
Washington, November 21, 1942—6 p.m.
428. For Murphy. My Nos. 408 and 417, November 13 and November 18, and your No. 147, November 17. Please discuss the following with General Eisenhower and inform Department urgently whether the following arrangements meet your and his needs.
- 1.
- The Secretary of State has been directed and empowered by the President to arrange in the field and in Washington for the conduct of civil affairs in North Africa and other reoccupied areas and to call upon the various agencies of government for personnel and assistance as he may desire.
- 2.
- The Secretary understands that by directive of the President you are a member of General Eisenhower’s staff and Chief Civil Affairs Officer for the area under his command.
- 3.
- The Secretary proposes to furnish you with the following
additional staff:
- (a)
- As Executive Assistant, Paul Culbertson, an Assistant Chief of the European Division, to which Division responsibility for dealing with all non-military matters arising as a result of the military occupation of territories in Europe and North Africa by the armed forces of the United Nations and affecting the interests of the United States has been assigned.
- (b)
- As Economic Executive Assistant, Donald Hiss, at present Chief of Foreign Funds Control Division of the Department of [Page 452] State. Mr. Hiss is familiar with the functioning of the various agencies in Washington and can assist you in coordinating the work under your instructions of the other members of the economic staff.
- (c)
- A representative of the Lend-Lease organization (who may also act jointly for the Department of Agriculture) to assist you in whatever steps are necessary to establish and expand agricultural production and will also be empowered to act for the Lend-Lease Administration in obtaining here or elsewhere the necessary supplies for civilian use.
- (d)
- Mr. Morris Rosenthal, Deputy Executive Director of the Board of Economic Warfare. Mr. Rosenthal can assist you in whatever steps are necessary to procure for export from North Africa materials needed by the United Nations and to increase, where desirable, the production thereof. He will also be empowered by the Board of Economic Warfare to take whatever other steps within its legal powers you may find necessary for the proper conduct of your mission.
- (e)
- A representative of the United States Treasury Department. He can assist you in whatever steps are necessary in the fields of currency, banking, and exchange and fund control.
- 4.
- All of the foregoing will be temporarily incorporated in the Auxiliary Foreign Service, Reoccupation Division, although they will continue to be paid by their respective agencies. They will in all respects be member of your staff and subject to your direction. It is probable that each of them will need at the outset a small number of assistants; say, two or three. They will be sent as soon as the military authorities can provide transportation. It is proposed that they will report to you in Algiers.
- 5.
- It should be clearly understood that all communications with civilian departments or agencies in Washington shall be carried on solely through your office and the Department of State.
- 6.
- It is the view of the War Department, in which this Department concurs, that the transportation of civilian supplies must in the present state of military operations be in vessels under the control of the military and under naval escort. Such shipments will have at present to be fitted into the program of shipment of military supplies and entirely subject to military necessity. This will have to be done by coordinated planning with the military authorities both in North Africa and here. The civilian authorities here will procure and make available to the army whatever supplies you ask for, to be shipped to you in accordance with opportunities as outlined above.
Naturally we will welcome any comment which General Eisenhower and you may have to make.
Hull