Roosevelt Papers: Telegram
The President to the Secretary of State 1
operational priority
For the Secretary from the President.
In regard to turning over naval vessels and merchant ships to the Soviet,2 the President desires that Italian shipping, both naval and merchant now in Allied possession, be used wherever it may promise the best service to the common Allied cause (with due reference to the terms of the Admiral Cunningham Agreement3 if and as amended), without any final transfer of title to any Nation at the present time.4
The question of permanent title to ships and other material surrendered by Italy while in an enemy status or by other enemy countries hereafter can be determined at a later date without prejudice to the interest of the allied nations, and without adversely affecting the present and prospective Italian war effort against Germany.
- Sent to the United States Naval Attaché Moscow, via Navy channels.↩
- See Hull’s telegram 1704 of October 23, 1943, 2 p.m., ante, p. 112.↩
- “Memorandum of Agreement on Employment and Disposition of Italian Fleet and Mercantile Marine”, concluded by Cunningham as Allied Naval Commander in Chief, Mediterranean, and the Italian Minister of Marine, on September 23, 1943; United States and Italy, 1936–1946; Documentary Record (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1946), p. 53.↩
- A draft of this message in the Roosevelt Papers shows that it had been prepared in the Department of State and had been reviewed by Roosevelt. The original draft of the final portion of this sentence read: “without any transfer of title at the present time when Italy is a co-belligerent with us.”↩