Foreign Relations of the United States, Conference at Quebec, 1944

Editorial Note

No official memorandum regarding this conversation has been found. Morgenthau’s diary entry for September 15 reads as follows:

“... I got in about six o’clock and stayed until after seven-thirty. . . . He¹ was completely relaxed, and the conversation was entirely on the week’s work.²

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Late in the afternoon in my discussion with the President, to my surprise he told me that Leahy had been favorable to my plan.³ The President said that he had withheld bringing up this question of where our Armies should go⁴ because he wanted to get Churchill in a good humor and he wanted everything else settled.

“... I asked him what he meant about the suggestion of having the United Nations meet the end of October, and he said that he felt it had taken much too long to bring up the League of Nations after World War I, and he wanted to do this in October. So I said, ‘Well, it makes good window dressing for the campaign,’ and he said, ‘Yes.’ His idea is to have it about the 27th of October and run through and after election.

“During my conversation with the President—I think it was in the morning⁵—I said, ‘Look, Mr. President, now that we have this Ruhr and Saar stuff straightened out, the thing should be presented to Stalin, and I think if Stalin knew how we felt you would find he would act much better.’ The President said, ‘Well, I will have Harriman come back and explain it to him, and let him go back and sell it to Stalin.’ ‘Listen,’ I said, ‘Harriman can’t do this. You ought to send me.’ I said, ‘I get along very well with the Russians, and you could check with Stalin as to whether I do or whether I don’t.’ The President said, ‘Oh, I have far too important things for you to do around Washington. I can’t spare you for a thing like this.’ I said, ‘Well, it would only be a matter of 10 days.’ He thought a minute and said, ‘Well, it might take two weeks,’ and he seemed to like the idea. . . .

“The other amazing thing that happened was he turned to me, when Grace Tully brought in a telegram⁶ in the afternoon addressed to her asking her to try to find out what happened on the French Lend-Lease, and said, ‘You let Harry⁷ know that we are not going to do it,’ …” (Morgenthau Presidential Diary, vol. VI)

1. i.e., Roosevelt.
2. For the paragraph omitted here, which related to Morgenthau’s conversation with Leahy immediately before his meeting with Roosevelt, see ante, p. 369.
3. i.e., the “Morgenthau Plan” for the postwar treatment of Germany.
4. In the invasion and occupation of Germany.
5. Since Morgenthau apparently was referring in this paragraph to the Roosevelt-Churchill agreement on the postwar treatment of Germany (see post, p. 466), which was not reached until their meeting at noon on September 15, it seems probable that the discussion recorded here, about notifying Stalin, took place during Morgenthau’s meeting with Roosevelt on the evening of that day.
6. Post, p. 423.
7. Hopkins.