Roosevelt Papers: Telegram
The Ambassador in Turkey (Steinhardt) to the President1
The President of Turkey, Mr. Inonu, has agreed to go with the Foreign Minister to Cairo “On condition that as between equals he is being invited to a free discussion and is not merely to be informed of decisions already arrived at in Tehran concerning Turkey.”
The British Ambassador to Turkey, Knatchbull-Hugessen, has telegraphed for authority to give Inonu the assurance he desires. It will be possible if the necessary authority is received before the morning of Friday December 3 for us to arrive in Adana by train on the morning of December 4 and to be in Cairo about 1 p.m. on the same day by special planes sent for us. At the moment, as near as I can estimate, the entire party will consist of about thirty people.
All is going along well.
- Sent to Cairo via military channels. The source text is a paraphrase prepared in the American Legation at Cairo. It is apparently the text as delivered to the President. A slightly variant text was repeated by Steinhardt to the Department (740.0011 EW 1939/32358).↩