Editorial Note
According to White’s memorandum regarding the Morgenthau–Cherwell meeting on the morning of September 14 (ante, p. 330), the three officials named above met “later” to draft a directive establishing a committee on lend-lease matters. A memorandum by White relating to the Roosevelt–Churchill meeting on the afternoon of September 14 (post, p. 348) indicates that the “memorandum on the creation of the lend-lease committee which had been drafted by Cherwell, Weeks and White” was ready by late afternoon on September 14. For the text of the directive referred to, see post, p. 468.
At some time during the Second Quebec Conference White discussed with Weeks the desirability of making certain information available to the United States authorities in order to expedite a decision with respect to lend-lease to the United Kingdom. The only information found on this discussion is that contained in the verbatim minutes of a conference between British and United States officials held in Washington at 3 p.m., September 20, 1944, as follows:
“Mr. White: Mr. Secretary, at Quebec in the discussion I had with Mr. Weeks—I am not sure whether you were present—I indicated a number of items that the answers to which would be very helpful in expediting a decision. I don’t know whether Mr. Weeks remembers the items I mentioned. I would be glad to supply them in writing. He thought that he could, given a little time, supply sufficiently rough answers—because the nature of some of the questions weren’t sufficiently accurate.
“Mr. Weeks: You mean—
“Mr. White: The extent of your increase in peace-time goods, the extent of the increase in exports, increased employment, and things of that character.
“Mr. Taft: The net transfer of employable persons from war production to civilian production.
“Mr. White: There are about a dozen of those key questions.” (Morgenthau Diary, vol. 773)