Foreign Relations of the United States, Conferences at Washington and Quebec, 1943

740.0011 European War 1939/30395a

The Secretary of State to the Presidents Chief of Staff ( Leahy )¹

[ Washington ,] May 22, 1943.

My Dear Admiral Leahy: I refer to Mr. Berle’s letter of March 17, 1943 to General Deane enclosing a copy of an aide-mémoire of even date from the British Embassy concurring in certain proposals of policy with respect to Italy. A copy of the British aide-mémoire is enclosed for your reference. These proposals were subsequently accepted by the Combined Chiefs of Staff with some modification of point five.²

The British Government requested that no use be made of point five until certain conditions were imminent or had been fulfilled. This was agreed to by the Department at that time and apparently accepted by the Combined Chiefs of Staff. I now feel that the fifth point, as modified by the Chiefs of Staff, should be freed from the conditions specified in the British note of March 17. It is my opinion that the moment is opportune to hold out to the Italian people some hope or assurance that their country will survive as a nation after the defeat of the Fascist Government. This, of course, could and should be done without making any specific territorial commitments. I feel that if such assurances are considered effective propaganda under certain given circumstances, that they are also effective under present conditions. Furthermore, it appears to me that a question of security is involved which makes it undesirable to associate a specific piece of propaganda with a possible major military operation.

If the Joint Chiefs of Staff concur in my views, perhaps they would secure the approval of the Combined Chiefs of Staff.

Sincerely yours,

Cordell Hull

1. Welles’ initials on the source text indicate his approval of this letter. The Joint Chiefs of Staff circulated the letter for consideration by the Combined Chiefs of Staff on May 25, 1943, but the proposals it set forth were not taken up by the Combined Chiefs of Staff until after the Trident Conference.
2. The letter of March 17, 1943, from Assistant Secretary of State Adolf A. Berle, Jr., to General Deane is not printed. For text of the aide-mémoire of March 17, 1943, from the British Embassy to the Department of State, see Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. ii, p. 324. For text of the Combined Chiefs of Staff directive on the policy for propaganda in Operation Husky , see footnote 2 to telegram Naf 221, May 17, 1943, from Eisenhower to the Combined Chiefs of Staff, ante, p. 326.