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

Memorandum by President Roosevelt¹⁴

Washington, July 23, 1942.

I told General Bradley,¹⁵ on the eve of his departure for Moscow, the important thing to impress on the Russians is that we are wholly realistic about shipments to Russia and that he must impress this fact on the Russian authorities.

The one essential criterion is not pages and pages listing commitments under the Moscow Protocol.

The real criterion is the ability to deliver matériels into Russia.

We must make every effort to make deliveries by any and all practicable means.

Therefore, our position should be to say to the Russians, in effect, that we can let them have almost anything they want, but they must list these items in an order of priority and that we will fill them in the order chosen by them.

I am, of course, referring to matériels carried on shipboard or by transport plane. Bombers which can be delivered under their own power constitute the only exception and in this case these bombers must, of course, be allocated from the general pool.

F[ranklin] D. R[oosevelt]

14. Copy obtained from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N. Y.
15. Maj. Gen. Follett Bradley, leader of a special Air Mission to the Soviet Union, with personal rank of Minister; he arrived at Moscow on August 4, 1942.