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

Hopkins Papers

Prime Minister Churchill’s Assistant Private Secretary (Rowan) to the President’s Special Assistant (Hopkins)

secret

[Washington, May 16, 1943.]

Mr. Hopkins: I attach a list in duplicate of the Prime Minister’s engagements. Perhaps you could kindly pass one copy on to Mrs. Roosevelt. I have no doubt that additional engagements, such as meetings with the Combined Chiefs of Staff, will arise.

Perhaps I may mention the following points to which I referred this morning:

a. Thursday, 20th, Admiral Brown and Tommy¹ are arranging the concert. We are fixing the meeting with Empire representatives at 5:45 in the Monroe Room at the White House, which you kindly said we could use.

b. I assume I may inform Mr. Early and Mr. Morgan, our information representative, that the Prime Minister has been invited and will attend Friday’s press conference.²

c. Week-end. The P.M. feels he must stay at Washington and proposes then to see the many people he should see. He does not wish in any way to interfere with the President’s arrangements and has accordingly asked us to arrange that he and his staff should go to the Embassy for the week-end.³

I attach a copy of the lists of people for the Prime Minister to see, suggested by the President, and by yourself and Lord Halifax. As I told you, the Prime Minister does not now propose to see Mr. Spangler and feels also that it is rather out of his beat to see Mr. Murray and Mr. Green. You said that if he did not see these two it would be inappropriate for him to see Mr. Tobin. Perhaps you could mention this to the President as it was he who suggested Mr. Tobin.

As regards the address to Congress, I am not certain at what time it is to start, as I have seen various reports.⁴ Also, do you know whether it is to be broadcast in U.S. and the U.K. as last time?

T. L. Rowan

16.v.43.

[Annex 1]

List of Prime Minister Churchill’s Engagements

Engagements

Monday 17.	Return White House for lunch.5
6:00 p.m.	Lord Knollys.
Tuesday 18.
1:30 p.m.	Lunch Embassy, Duke of Windsor.
	Afternoon and after-dinner, prepare speech.
Wednesday 19.
Noon ?	Address Congress.6
	Lunch at Capitol, followed by interview with Foreign Affairs Committees of both Houses.7
5:30 p.m.	Mr. Malcolm MacDonald. (Not yet fixed)
	Mr. Mackenzie King comes to White House for night.8
Thursday 20.
Noon	Pacific Council.9
5:00 p.m.	Band concert at White House.
5:45 p.m.	Empire Representatives at White House.
	Dinner at Embassy with Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins and Mr. and Mrs. Harriman.
Friday 21.
10:30 a.m.	Press Conference.10
1:00 p.m.	Lunch with President and Mme. Chiang Kai Shek.11
	Dine at Embassy to meet U.S. Cabinet Ministers, etc.12
Week-end	Stay at Embassy.
Monday 24	Return to White House.13
	Dine Embassy with Heads of Missions.

[Annex 2]

List of Persons Suggested to Prime Minister Churchill To See¹⁴

The President Suggests:

Mr. Phillips—who was in India.15
Mr. Tobin.

The Ambassador and Mr. Hopkins Suggest:

The Vice President,16	Mr. Jesse Jones,
Colonel Stimson,17	General Somervell
Colonel Knox,	Mr. Phil Muray, C.I.O.,
Mr. Morgenthau,	Mr. Bill Green, A.F. of L.,
Mr. Welles,16	Mayor Kelly,
Mr. Walter Lippmann,	Mr. Spangler, Chairman, Republican Party,
Mr. Harold Ickes,16	Mr. Frank Walker, Chairman, Democratic Party and Postmaster General.
Mr. Donald Nelson,
General Stilwell,18
General Chennault,19
Admiral Land,

1. The reference here is presumably to Commander Thompson, the Prime Minister’s Personal Assistant.
2. Churchill did not, in fact, attend Roosevelt’s press conference on May 21. Roosevelt and Churchill did hold a joint press conference on May 25, for the record of which see post, p. 211.
3. Churchill apparently returned to the White House on the evening of May 23; see the editorial note, post, p. 183.
4. Regarding Churchill’s address to a joint session of the Houses of Congress at noon on May 19, 1943, see the editorial note, post, p. 117.
5. Roosevelt and Churchill spent the weekend of May 14–17, 1943, at Shangri La, the President’s mountain camp in Maryland; see the editorial note, post, p. 86.
6. See the editorial note, post, p. 117.
7. Regarding Churchill’s Congressional luncheon meeting, see the editorial note, post, p. 117.
8. Regarding the Roosevelt–Churchill–Mackenzie King conversation on the evening of May 19, see the editorial note, post, p. 123.
9. For the record of the meeting of the Pacific War Council on May 20, 1943, see post, p. 134.
10. The Roosevelt–Churchill joint press conference was not held until May 25; for the record of the conference, see post, p. 211.
11. This luncheon appears to have been cancelled; for Churchill’s own account of the abortive arrangements for the lunch, see Hinge of Fate, p. 797.
12. No record has been found to indicate that Churchill dined with United States Cabinet officers on May 21; for the record of Prime Minister’s luncheon meeting with several United States officials on May 22, 1943, see post, p. 167.
13. Churchill appears to have returned to the White House on the evening of May 23; see the editorial note, post, p. 183.
14. It is not known how many of the persons herein listed actually met with Churchill. Available information is set forth in the succeeding footnotes.
15. Phillips, who returned from his mission to India at the beginning of May 1943, had an interview with Roosevelt on May 11 and gave the President some additional views in a letter dated May 14, 1943, Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. iv, p. 220. Regarding the meeting between Phillips and Churchill on the morning of May 23, 1943, see the editorial note, post, p. 177.
16. A participant in the American–British luncheon meeting of May 22, 1943; see post, p. 166.
17. Stimson participated in the American–British luncheon of May 22, 1943, and met privately with Churchill directly afterwards; see post, pp. 166 and 172.
16. A participant in the American–British luncheon meeting of May 22, 1943; see post, p. 166.
16. A participant in the American–British luncheon meeting of May 22, 1943; see post, p. 166.
18. For Stilwell’s record of his meeting with Churchill on the morning of May 22, 1943, see post, p. 165.
19. According to the account in Claire Lee Chennault, “Way of a Fighter (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1949), p. 227, Churchill held a private meeting with Chennault at breakfast sometime near the end of the Conference. No official record of the meeting has been found.