890F.00/81: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Egypt (Kirk)
714. Your 723, April 7 [17], 10 a.m. Please arrange for the transmission of the following message62 from the President to King Ibn Saud through the confidential media he indicated:
“The American Minister, Mr. Kirk, has communicated to me Your Majesty’s expression of friendship for the United States and sympathy for the United Nations’ cause, which I am most grateful to receive. [Page 787] He has informed me also how Your Majesty has manifested this friendship and sympathy by remaining silent in regard to issues affecting the Arab peoples among whom Your Majesty is revered as a distinguished leader.
In conveying my appreciation of Your Majesty’s sympathetic understanding and helpful cooperation, I wish to express my thorough agreement with Your Majesty’s considered opinion that continued silence with respect to such matters would prove most helpful to the United Nations in their bitter struggle to preserve the freedom of mankind. Nevertheless, if the interested Arabs and Jews should reach a friendly understanding in regard to matters affecting Palestine through their own efforts before the end of the war, such a development would be highly desirable. In any case, however, I assure Your Majesty that it is the view of the Government of the United States that no decision altering the basic situation of Palestine should be reached without full consultation with both Arabs and Jews.
I take this opportunity to express my best wishes for Your Majesty’s good health and for the well-being of your people. Franklin D. Roosevelt.”
- The Department subsequently authorized Minister Kirk to transmit this message to the Appointed Minister Resident in Saudi Arabia (Moose), for conveyance to King Ibn Saud in the exact wording of the English text (890F.00/90).↩