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

Leahy Papers

The President’s Chief of Staff (Leahy) to the President¹

[Cairo,] 5 December 1943.

Memorandum for the President:

Subject: Recognition of Rome as an Open City.

The question of declaring Rome an open city has again been discussed by the Joint U. S. Chiefs of Staff with the British Chiefs of Staff. The British Chiefs of Staff are still of the opinion that, from a military point of view, such action is undesirable.

William D. Leahy

Admiral, U. S. Navy Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy

1. Hull’s letter of November 21, 1943, to Roosevelt (ante, p. 266) was referred to Leahy earlier in the day on December 5, 1943, with a memorandum from Brown reading: “The President requests that you discuss this matter with the British.”