811.917 Time/60½

The Tinder Secretary of State (Welles) to President Roosevelt

My Dear Mr. President: In reply to the inquiry contained in your memorandum of March 750 as to what I have done with regard to the offensive article concerning the King of Egypt published in the February 16 issue of Time, I may say that immediately after the publication of this issue of Time the Egyptian Minister called to see me.

I expressed to the Minister my very deep regret that an article of this character which reflected upon the King of Egypt should have been published in an American magazine. I told him that I would make my views known to the editor of Time. The Minister said that he had already received word from the chief editor of Time that he was coming down to Washington to call upon the Minister to express the regret of the Board of Editors that this article had been published.

Subsequently I myself spoke with two of the editors of Time and made it clear to them that the policy they were pursuing by publishing articles of this character, which had in the past created and still were creating such deep resentment on the part of people of friendly countries, was doing a very serious disservice to the highest interests of the United States at a peculiarly critical moment.

Since that time they have consulted me on three or four occasions with regard to questionable material that they had ready for publication, and on two of these occasions when I expressed my strong objection to publication of this material the material has not been published.

In conclusion I may say that the Minister appeared to be satisfied with the apologies tendered him by the editor of the magazine.

Do you think of anything further which I might usefully do?

Believe me

Faithfully yours,

Sumner Welles
  1. See footnote 49, p. 98.