811.24/1862: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 30—12:45 a.m.]
4965. For Secretary Morgenthau from the Ambassador. Since your cable 4206, July 10, midnight,96 appeared to involve lend-lease matters on which I was not informed and since you stated that Lord Halifax had told you that either I or Harriman was to discuss with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the subject matter, I referred the message to Harriman as he told me he had discussed the situation when in Washington. Last evening I intervened and the question was [Page 68] brought up at a late Cabinet meeting. It will be necessary to carry this question before Parliament and trust me to get a favorable answer.
In the meantime the Chancellor of the Exchequer has communicated to me the following reply which will be delivered through the British Embassy in Washington:
“I am sorry to hear from Lord Halifax that you have been disappointed at the length of time which it has taken us to reach a decision on the proposal that we should furnish raw materials under reciprocal aid to the United States. We first learned of this when Dr. White wrote to Sir Frederick Phillips at the beginning of June to say that this idea was being considered among other suggestions by the Inter-Departmental Committee which deals with matters of financial assistance to the Allies. Since then, however, it has been put to us as a formal proposal by the State Department together with other proposals relating to lend-lease and reciprocal aid. These questions are to a large extent inter-linked and have given us a good deal of thought. Not only do they raise large questions of policy, they have also needed a very thorough technical examination. Some delay therefore has been necessary, but I can assure you that I have given the matter my close personal attention throughout. All these questions are now before the Cabinet and I think I can assure you that Lord Halifax will have received instructions from the Cabinet at the beginning of next week on all the outstanding questions which were raised with him by the State Department. These instructions will particularly cover the point you have raised and in a way which I hope you will find satisfactory.”