840.50/2088
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
| Participants: | President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Hull, The Right Honorable Anthony Eden, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, The British Ambassador, Lord [Page 37] Halifax, Mr. Strang of the British Foreign Office, Ambassador Winant, Under Secretary Welles and Mr. Harry Hopkins |
The President invited Mr. Eden, the British Ambassador and the Assistant Under Secretary in the British Foreign Office, Mr. Strang, and also Secretary Hull, Under Secretary Welles, Ambassador Winant and Mr. Harry Hopkins to a general conference at the White House on March twenty-seventh. In the course of the discussion, there were exchanges of comment on such subjects as the following:
Is China to be one of the four controlling powers after the war, and are we and the British in agreement to this effect? The affirmative view seemed to be the consensus of opinion.
Another question had to do with our joint or respective post-war policies relating to Manchuria, Korea, Formosa and Indochina. The President suggested that a trusteeship be set up for Indochina; that Manchuria and Formosa should be returned to China and that Korea might be placed under an international trusteeship, with China, the United States and one or two other countries participating. As to the disposition of the Japanese mandated islands, the President remarked that they should be internationalized for the purpose of keeping the peace. Mr. Eden indicated that he was favorably impressed with this proposal.
Another question was whether there was a meeting of the minds of the two Governments relative to the “policy of trusteeship” after the war. The President said that he had read a draft on the subject of dependent peoples, which the Secretary of State had handed to him and that it seemed to be all right, with the exception of two or three minor matters which he had noted. I remarked that it contemplated international supervision over all agencies dealing with dependent peoples, et cetera, except in cases of parent governments and their colonies, where it was proposed that international agencies might observe the entire operations of the parent government relating to each colony and make public any and all facts that it would have the public know, et cetera. It was agreed that a copy of this draft might be handed to the British but it was understood that this was not intended to be the final word on the matter.
The question of how to treat Germany after the war was again mentioned and the view expressed was in harmony with the attitude of both the President and Mr. Eden.
The question as to the policy toward France after the war was again touched upon, with no particular conclusions reached.
Something was said about the importance of international bases for the peace organization such as Dakar and Bizerte. There were a few general comments concerning the best procedure for discussion of postwar [Page 38] civil aviation, shipping and communications, but nothing new was brought out. It was indicated that this Government has set up an interdepartmental committee, which for some weeks has been working on international civil aviation problems and in due time will be ready to confer with the British, the Russian and other representatives of the United Nations. The same thing was said to be true in regard to shipping and communications.
The President spoke at some length in regard to the structure of the United Nations organization.
These were the main topics briefly discussed, with no particular difference of opinion indicated so far as general principles were concerned.