Office of the Historian

Roosevelt Papers

President Roosevelt to Marshal Stalin

[Cairo,] December 3, 1943.1

Dear Marshal Stalin, The weather conditions were ideal for crossing the mountains the day of our departure from Teheran so that we had an easy and comfortable flight to Cairo. I hasten to send you my personal thanks for your thoughtfulness and hospitality in providing living quarters for me in your Embassy at Teheran. I was not only extremely comfortable there but I am very conscious of how much more we were able to accomplish in a brief period of time because we were such close neighbors throughout our stay.

I view those momentous days of our meeting with the greatest satisfaction as being an important milestone in the progress of human affairs. I thank you and the members of your staff and household for the many kindnesses to me and to the members of my staff.

I am just starting home and will visit my troops in Italy on the way.

Cordially yours,

F[ranklin] D R[oosevelt]
  1. The letter was not delivered to Stalin until December 18, 1943; see Stalin’s reply, post, p. 849. The last paragraph of this letter reads as if it were being sent on December 7, the date on which Roosevelt left Cairo.↩