740.0011 European War 1939/19710
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The British Ambassador45 called to see me at his request.
The Ambassador said he had been instructed by his Government to give it his opinion of the effect which would be created in the United States were the British to undertake to bomb Rome. The Ambassador said that some correspondence had been proceeding between the British Government and the Pope and that the British Government had informed the Vatican that in as much as Rome was an Axis capital, and in as much as the Axis powers had mercilessly bombed the capital of England, the British would hold themselves free to bomb Rome at any time they saw fit. They had stated, however, that the Vatican would in no event be harmed and they suggested [Page 792] that the Vatican be marked in such a way as to make bombing from the air by mishap or mistake less likely.
The Ambassador said that he was going to reply to his Government that he feared the effect upon public opinion in the United States would be unfortunate in its results.
I told the Ambassador that it would most decidedly be unfortunate if through some mistake the Vatican were harmed or any of the outstanding churches in Rome were destroyed. I said that if by luck Rome were bombed, however, and no damage was done to objects of peculiar veneration on the part of Catholics in this country, I did not believe the effect would be harmful.
The Ambassador also told me that the British Government had protested strongly to the Vatican with regard to the expressed willingness of the latter to receive an emissary from Japan.46
I told the Ambassador that the views of this Government on that subject had likewise been communicated informally to the Vatican by the American Chargé d’Affaires.
The Ambassador handed me the memorandum containing an instruction sent by the British Government to their representative at the Vatican with regard to Japanese representation at the Holy See. This is attached herewith.47