868.48/2008: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)

254. Your 249, January 17, 4 a.m. The British aide-mémoire and the suggested statement for issuance in Cairo and London have been carefully considered. It is observed that the British Government contemplates (1) the shipment of 8,000 tons of wheat from [Page 736] Egypt to Greece in the near future provided adequate safe conduct is obtained from the Axis and provided the International Red Cross will supervise the distribution in Greece, (2) a continuation of existing relief schemes involving shipments to Greece from Turkey, and (3) the possibility of evacuating from Greece children and nursing mothers.

Please inform the Foreign Office that the American Government has no hesitancy in assuring the British Government of its readiness to continue to support the principle of relief for Greece in the manner suggested, and concurs in the suggested statement quoted in Section 3 of your telegram under reference.18

The aide-mémoire makes no reference to the financing of the contemplated measures. The Department assumes that any American funds which may become involved would be transferred to the United Kingdom.

Hull
  1. Statement quoted in paragraph numbered 4, p. 734. The statement was made by the British Minister of Economic Warfare in the House of Commons, January 27, 1942; see Department of State Bulletin, January 31, 1942, p. 93.