Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, The Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943

Hopkins Papers

The Prime Minister’s Assistant Private Secretary (Brown) to the President’s Special Assistant (Hopkins)

most secret
most immediate

[Cairo, December 2, 1943.]

Mr. Hopkins.

The Prime Minister has instructed me to send down to you immediately, for the President’s information, the attached copy of telegram No. 365 from Angora to the Minister of State, Cairo, which was repeated to Teheran and which the Prime Minister saw last night, and of telegram No. 394 from Angora to the Embassy at Cairo which has just been received.

F. D. W. Brown

2.12.43

[Attachment 1]

The British Ambassador in Turkey (Knatchbull-Hugessen) to the British Minister of State Resident in the Middle East (Casey)

most immediate

Ankara, December 1, 1943.

Addressed Minister of State telegram 365 and repeated to Tehran and Foreign Office. Most secret.

Minister for Foreign Affairs² spontaneously mentioned to U. S. Ambassador³ this morning the possibility of meeting President of the Republic⁴ with President Roosevelt and the Prime Minister. He said that there would be serious difficulties about Cairo and that in any case the party⁵ would not agree to the President of the Republic flying. Adana would present security difficulties, but speaking purely personally and without commitment, he suggested Aleppo might be possible.

2. I give this for information only. U. S. Ambassador is repeating it.⁶

[Attachment 2]

The British Ambassador in Turkey (Knatchbull-Hugessen) to the British Embassy in Egypt

most immediate

Ankara, December 2, 1943.

Addressed to Cairo Embassy telegram No. 394 repeated to the Foreign Office, Tehran. Most Secret. Foreign Office telegram No. 1644 to me (repeating Tehran telegram No. 33 to me).⁷

Pending the receipt of instructions by my Soviet and United States Colleagues⁸ I have informed the Minister for Foreign Affairs of your proposal⁹ that the President should go to Cairo.

2. Minister for Foreign Affairs has consulted the President and the Prime Minister¹⁰ and informs me as follows.

3. If the object of the visit is discussions on basis of decision[s] already taken in conversations with Stalin in Tehran the President would not be willing to come.

4. If however the object is to afford the opportunity of free equal and unprejudged discussion as to the best method by which Turkey can serve the common cause, the President would be willing to come accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs.

5. Minister for Foreign Affairs explained that the President’s position [vis-à-vis the?]¹¹ national party and the country would be rendered impossible if he accepted the invitation on the basis of paragraph 3.

6. If the invitation is on basis of paragraph 4 he would be ready to leave on the morning of December 3rd reaching Adana early December 4th. His party would number 15. There would in addition be my Soviet and United States Colleagues and myself. I should propose to bring Counsellor¹² and Air Attaché.¹³ Including the President’s party it would be necessary to count on total of 25 to 30.

7. I have been in touch with my Soviet and United States Colleagues and will inform them of the above as soon as possible.

Knatchbull Hugessen

2. Numan Menemencioğlu.
3. Laurence A. Steinhardt.
4. Ismet Inönü.
5. Presumably the Republican People’s Party.
6. See Steinhardt’s telegram 1958 of December 1, 1943, 1 p.m., ante, p. 632.
7. The British telegram under reference was not attached.
8. Respectively Vinogradov and Steinhardt. See ante, p. 633, footnote 3.
9. See ante, p. 633.
10. Şükrü Saracoğlu.
11. Garbled passage in source text.
12. Alexander Knox Helm.
13. Air Vice Marshal Robert Allingham George.