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

Roosevelt Papers

Prime Minister Churchill to President Roosevelt

Washington, [September 4, 1943.]

Mr. President. It seemed to me that your draft message to Stalin¹ did not draw clear enough distinction between the Mediterranean Commission and the Three-Power Conference. I have ventured therefore to suggest some alterations which you will be able to identify on the re-typed copy annexed.²

I also annex a re-draft of my message, in which I have made some changes. In particular, you will see that I show Stalin I am aware that you propose a different procedure, and I suggest an argument in favour of adopting it.

W[inston] S C[hurchill]

4.9.43

[Enclosure 1]

Draft of Message From President Roosevelt to Marshal Stalin ³

September 4, 1943.

1. The Prime Minister and I are both happy at the idea of the military, political meeting.⁴

2. I think it should be held as soon as possible. What would you think of a date about September twenty-fifth?

3. In regard to location, the Prime Minister has suggested London or Edinburgh,⁵ and I would be willing to have my representatives go to either of these if you also think it best. However, I am inclined to the thought of a more remote spot where also the membership of the meeting would be less surrounded by reporters. I would be inclined to suggest Casablanca or Algiers or Tunis.⁶ I do not object to Sicily but the communications from and to there are more difficult.

4. The political representatives would, of course, report to their respective Governments because I do not think we could give plenary powers to them. They could be advised on military developments by attaching one or two military advisers to them, though I do not want to have the meeting develop⁷ into a full-scale Combined Staffs’ Conference.

5.8 I have no objection to adding a French member to the meeting⁹ because we are in the midst of equipping ten or eleven of their divisions in North Africa. However, I think it would be very unwise to have the French take part in discussions relating to the military occupation of Italy. If the Italians go through with surrender terms,¹⁰ I hope they will be able wholeheartedly to assist the occupation troops. On the whole, the Italians greatly dislike the French and if we bring the French into occupation discussions at this time the civil and military elements in Italy will greatly resent it.

6. We can discuss the problem of consulting the Greeks and Yugoslavs later on.

7. If Mr. Molotov comes¹¹ I would wish to send Mr. Hull, but I do not believe that the latter should make such a long journey and I would, therefore, send the Under Secretary of State, Mr. Welles. Mr. Harriman would go with Mr. Welles because he has such good knowledge of all shipping, lend-lease and commerical matters. For an American military adviser, I will try to send somebody from my Joint Staff who is in complete touch with the work of the Combined Staffs.

8. The tenacity and drive of your Armies is magnificent and I congratulate you again.

9. While this coming Conference is a very good thing, I still hope that you and Mr. Churchill and I can meet as soon as possible. I personally could arrange to meet in a place as far as North Africa between November fifteenth and December fifteenth. I know you will understand that I cannot be away from Washington more than about twenty days because, under our Constitution, no one can sign for me when I am away.

10. In regard¹² to a Commission to sit in Sicily in connection with carrying out of further settlements with Italy, why not send an officer to Eisenhower’s headquarters where he would join the British and Americans who are now working on this very subject?¹³

Roosevelt

[Enclosure 3]

Draft of Message From Prime Minister Churchill to Marshal Stalin ¹⁴

The military commission.

I have discussed with the President your suggestion for a military-political commission representative of our three countries.¹⁵ The President is sending you his views.

2. If a formal commission is to be set up I make the following suggestions as to its constitution and scope, from which I think the President would not dissent, but he is telegraphing separately.

3. As to its location I will agree to Sicily if you are set upon it, but I believe that either Tunis or Algiers, which are an established Allied headquarters, would be more convenient. There will be no harm in trying both.

4. I suggest that the members of the commission should be political representatives appointed by the three governments, each reporting to his Government direct. The commission could not, of course, supersede or override the authority of the Governments concerned. The representatives may require to be assisted by military advisers. The political representatives should be kept informed by their governments of military and political developments affecting their work, and would in their turn inform their Governments of local developments. They could make joint representations to their Governments, but would not have the power to take final decisions. They would, of course, not interfere with the military functions of the Allied Commander-in-Chief.

5. I was glad to find that you agreed¹⁶ that a French member might be added. The President to whom I have submitted the idea also seemed inclined to accept it with certain reservations. We must remember that before long the French will presumably have ten or more fully equipped divisions which will certainly be needed in action.

6. There are others, notably the Greeks and the Yugoslavs, who are directly interested, and I suggest that we should devise a procedure for calling them in for consultation when questions of direct concern to them are under examination.

7. As I understand it the commission would, in the first instance, handle the Italian question only. When other cases arise experience should have shown whether this or some other organ would be the best medium for cooperating [coordinating?] our views and plans.

8. The President is making to you the different suggestion that you might think it sufficient to send an officer to General Eisenhower’s headquarters. Seeing that the commission, if set up, would meet almost concurrently with the conference of Foreign Ministers, it may be that you will agree that the President’s plan meets the case.

9. In the event of its being decided to establish the commission, I should be grateful to learn whether you agree with the proposals I have made above.¹⁷ The commission, if it is desired, should be set going this month, but see my immediately following telegram.¹⁸

1. Enclosure 1, below.
2. Enclosure 2 to Churchill’s memorandum; not printed. Churchill’s suggestions, most of which Roosevelt accepted, are described in the footnotes to enclosure 1, below.
3. This draft, which Roosevelt had given or sent to Churchill, contains some handwritten changes by Roosevelt, annotated below, which were apparently made before Churchill received the draft, and further suggested changes by Churchill which were then incorporated into a retyped draft, not printed.
4. Churchill suggested adding the words “on the Foreign Office level” at the end of this paragraph.
5. Roosevelt changed this passage by hand to read “London or somewhere in England”, apparently before he gave the draft to Churchill.
6. Churchill suggested deleting the words “or Algiers or Tunis”.
7. Churchill suggested inserting the words “at this stage” here.
8. Churchill suggested a rearrangement of paragraphs whereby paragraphs 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 as they appear in this draft became, respectively, paragraphs 9, 10, 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Churchill’s proposed revision.
9. Churchill suggested changing “the meeting” to “their meetings”.
10. Churchill suggested inserting the words “already signed” here.
11. Churchill suggested changing the opening words of this paragraph to “If Mr. Molotov and Mr. Eden come”.
12. Churchill suggested changing the first two words of this paragraph to “Turning now”.
13. This entire paragraph and the signature at the end of the draft message are in Roosevelt’s handwriting.
14. The draft of this message which Churchill sent to Roosevelt is not in the file, possibly because Roosevelt returned it to Churchill. The text here printed is that of the message as sent to Stalin on September 5, 1943, as it appears in Stalin’s Correspondence, vol. i, pp. 153–154. For Churchill’s separate message of September 5 to Stalin concerning the proposed meeting of Foreign Ministers, in which he stated that he had proposed to Roosevelt that the meeting be held in Britain, see ibid., pp. 155–156.
15. See ante, p. 1087.
16. Churchill had suggested French representation on the proposed military-political commission in a message to Stalin dated August 30, 1943, and Stalin had replied affirmatively on the following day. See Stalin’s Correspondence, vol. i, p. 152.
17. For Stalin’s reply to Churchill, dated September 8, 1943, see ibid., pp. 157–158.
18. Not printed here. See ibid., p. 155.