Office of the Historian

The Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Secretary of State 58a

[Washington,] April 26, 1943.

Dear Mr. Secretary: The United States Chiefs of Staff have given careful consideration to your letter of April 2358b with regard to removing refugees from Spain and also to the British proposals regarding this subject which were enclosed.

There are some political and humanitarian aspects of the questions presented upon which the State Department is best qualified to formulate United States policy. The Chiefs of Staff, therefore, confine their comments to the military aspects.

The immediate proposal is to transport some 3,000 to 5,000 refugees, largely Jewish and of enemy nationality or stateless, to North Africa. There they are to be either completely free or interned in a rest camp under British control. The British memorandum indicates that there are now 45,000 such refugees58c in Spain and that it would be desirable to remove all of them. It is reasonable to expect, therefore, that there will be similar proposals to transport increased increments of refugees to North Africa in the future.

The United States Chiefs of Staff are of the opinion that acceptance of the British proposal would have the following results:

(a)
It would require the utilization of personnel shipping capacity which is urgently needed for military purposes.
(b)
It would require a constant utilization of cargo shipping in order to feed and supply the refugees after their arrival in North Africa. At the present time the cargo shipping available is not sufficient [Page 297] to meet the military needs in Africa as well as those of an already strained civilian economy.
(c)
It would put an added and unwarranted administrative responsibility on the Supreme Commander in North Africa.
(d)
The influx of a considerable group of Jewish refugees to North Africa might cause such resentment on the part of the Arab population as to necessitate military action to maintain order.

For the above reasons the United States Chiefs of Staff strongly urge that the British proposal be rejected.

Sincerely yours,

For the Joint Chiefs of Staff:
William D. Leahy

Admiral, U.S. Navy Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy
  1. Copy of letter obtained from the Department of Defense.↩
  2. Not printed.↩
  3. Should read “4–5,000 such refugees.”↩