Roosevelt Papers
President Roosevelt to the British Minister of Information (Bracken)
Dear Brendan: Since my return to Washington, I have received a more complete report of the confusions over publicity which arose at Cairo and Teheran.
[Page 849]Whatever the causes, I am greatly disturbed at the results. Not only did the newspapers, news services, and broadcasters of the United States suffer a heavy penalty because they kept confidence and observed the designated release dates, but non-observance elsewhere has engendered bitter reproaches and many charges of bad faith. Such a condition is distinctly damaging to that unity of purpose and action which the conferences at Cairo and Teheran were designed to promote.
I am resolved that we will not risk a repetition. Consequently, I have decided that hereafter no news having a security value will be issued by the Government for future release, but that all such news will be given out instead at the earliest moment consistent with safety, for immediate publication and broadcast. I have issued instructions to that effect to the various departments and agencies.1
Very sincerely yours,
- In his reply, dated March 6, 1944, Bracken did not mention the incidents at Cairo and Tehran, but he expressed his entire agreement with Roosevelt’s decision regarding the future handling of press releases (Roosevelt Papers).↩