840.48 Refugees/3919a
The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to President Roosevelt
My Dear Mr. President: Following the recommendations of the Bermuda Conference we have been in negotiation with the British Government to arrive at a method of procedure and have now received from the British Embassy the agreement of the British Government to a proposal made to them in writing by Mr. Myron Taylor after consultation with Mr. Hull. This is particularly gratifying. Among other things it provides for a meeting in London of the Executive Committee of the Intergovernmental Committee and it is our thought that it will operate under a British chairman with an American as Director of Operations acting under him and with a secretary from some other country, probably the Netherlands.
Mr. Taylor has been so long identified with this work it is hard to think of carrying it on without his continuing participation. I know he has some reluctance to continue active on this account, due largely to his occupation in post-war studies and other activities here.
I discussed the matter with Mr. Hull and we were of the opinion that it would be well if you would ask Mr. Taylor to continue. He need not necessarily devote his personal time and energy to attending meetings for he could designate an alternate and could in fact name the Director of Operations mentioned above. This Director could report through the Department to Mr. Taylor so that he could be generally advised of the movements and developments of the work carried out by the Executive Committee.
If you agree, I wonder if you would not be willing personally to let Mr. Taylor know of your desire that he continue. I think his continuation would be particularly welcome to all of the groups directly interested in this work and I feel that it would likewise assist greatly in the successful completion of the work.59a
Believe me
Faithfully yours,