Office of the Historian

President Roosevelt to Mr. Wendell L. Willkie 4

Washington, August 2, 1942.

Am arranging for you to leave any day after August 15th agreeable to you and to return between 1st and 15th of October.5 It is my thought you would do the Middle East but that Russia and China would be subject to developments which you and I can talk over. General Marshall and General Arnold will handle details. I hope you can come to see me at your earliest convenience so that we can have a good talk in regard to it and in regard to a lot of other things. Call up McIntyre6 and he will arrange day and hour.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
  1. Copy obtained from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N. Y. This night letter telegram was sent to Mr. Willkie at 15 Broad Street, New York, N. Y.↩
  2. In a letter of July 29, 1942, to the President, Mr. Willkie had expressed his desire, if agreeable to the President and the Government, “to take a trip to the middle east, into Russia and perhaps China.”↩
  3. Marvin H. McIntyre, Secretary to President Roosevelt.↩