Hopkins Papers: Telegram
The President’s Special Assistant (Hopkins) to Prime Minister Mackenzie King1
56. Personal and secret to Prime Minister Mackenzie King from Harry L. Hopkins.
The President’s Secretary, Stephen Early, has today conferred at length with your Mr David Dunton. Also attending the conference, were representatives of our Office of War Information.
Early told Dunton of the President’s wishes in regard to press, radio and photography.
I think you should know at once that the President has wired Churchill telling him he thinks it would be a great mistake to take over the whole of the Hotel Frontenac at such a time as this2 and that he is sure security can be properly maintained if two or three floors are taken over.
Furthermore, the President feels that it would be a great mistake to have newspapermen all over the place and that the newspapermen should know that only a communiqué, after the conference, will be issued. The President is afraid they will be demanding press releases every day. He, therefore, hopes that no newspapermen will be specially invited into Quebec from anywhere and that the news of the conference will rest on a communiqué to be issued at the conclusion of the talks.3
You will, no doubt, hear directly from Churchill of this but I wanted to acquaint you with the President’s position.