811.20290B/9½
The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to Admiral William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy
My Dear Admiral Leahy: I had the opportunity on Friday last of talking with the President concerning the last paragraphs of your letter to me on October 723 regarding the proposed mission to the Near East of a group headed by Lieutenant Colonel Hoskins …
It is true that the British authorities appear to be disinclined to agree that this mission should proceed to the Near East, but the President feels, and requested me to tell you accordingly, that the British authorities should be told that this Government desires the mission to proceed to the Near East in view of its belief that such a mission could accomplish much useful work in the interest of the United Nations. The President said that the British authorities might as well be frankly told that at the present time an American mission of this character would be able to do much that is useful in view of the fact that the Government of the United States possesses very considerable influence and prestige in that area, and that because of the desire of all of us that Axis propaganda and Axis activities throughout the countries of the Near East should be effectively combatted, it was desirable that this mission be sent at an early moment.
[Page 35]I mentioned this question a few days ago briefly to Lieutenant General McNarney in view of my thought that an effective way of convincing the British authorities that their objections should be withdrawn would be to send Colonel Hoskins to London in order that he could inform General Eisenhower fully of the details regarding the work which the proposed mission was to undertake so that General Eisenhower could himself take the matter up with the appropriate authorities in London. General McNarney felt, however, that under existing arrangements this question should be discussed with the Combined Chiefs of Staff in Washington rather than in London. This, of course, is a question which you are able to determine and which I am not.
I shall appreciate it if you will let me know what can be done along the lines above set forth in accordance with the desire which the President expressed to me.24
Believe me
Yours very sincerely,
- Not printed.↩
- In a letter of October 31, 1942, from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Under Secretary of State it was stated that the British Chiefs of Staff had agreed that a representative should be sent to Cairo to discuss the proposed mission. The letter also stated that the British had objected to including as a function of the proposed mission the distribution of food in the Middle East on the ground that it would cut across the activities of the Middle East Supply Center on which the United States was represented. (811.20290B/9½)↩