Editorial Note
No official record of this meeting has been found. In his Diary for September 2, 1943, Leahy gives the following account of the discussion:
“By direction of the President conferred with Sir Alexander Cadogan, British Permanent Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in the British Embassy in connection with a proposal that General Eisenhower be authorized to sign for the Soviet [Union] his short terms for the surrender of Italy.
“Cadogan informed me that on August 31st London had telegraphed to Moscow a request for authority to sign the short terms of surrender, that no reply has yet been received from Moscow, and that it does not appear practicable to take any further steps until a reply is received.” (Leahy Papers)
For a joint Roosevelt-Churchill message to Stalin sent later on September 2 in which Roosevelt and Churchill said that they were assuming that Stalin would expect Eisenhower to sign the short terms on his behalf if that were necessary, see post, p. 1262. Soviet concurrence [Page 1200] in this procedure was communicated to the British Ambassador at Moscow on September 2, before this message had been delivered, and Stalin confirmed this concurrence in a message to Roosevelt and Churchill dated September 7, 1943. See post, p. 1267. The short terms were signed at Fairfield Camp, Sicily, on September 3, 1943. For text, see Department of State, Treaties and Other International Acts Series No. 1604; 61 Stat. (3) 2740.