740.0011 European War 1939/7–2744: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom ( Winant )
6007. For Phillips. ReEmbs 5944, July 27, 4 [5] p.m. In our negotiations with representatives of the French Committee here on agreements as to civil administration, finance, and other matters, we are discussing a memorandum of agreement relating to publicity arrangements, using as a basis memorandum No. 4 of the agreements discussed between the French representatives and the British Foreign Office. We have proposed to the French that we delete paragraph 1 of the Anglo [Franco] British memorandum No. 4, that we keep substance of all the other paragraphs, and add one paragraph,45 which would provide for freedom from political censorship for American correspondents and news agencies in France.
You no doubt have available Franco British memorandum No. 4. You can yourself decide whether arrangement between SHAEF and French authorities mentioned in your reference telegram is in conformity with our proposed agreed memorandum No. 4 with the French.
- The proposed text of this paragraph read as follows: “The dispatches of British and American Press representatives intended for publication outside of France shall not be subject to political censorship from any French or Allied source.” The paragraph, however (proposed as article 5), was not written into the final version of Memorandum IV of the Civil Affairs Agreement, dated August 25, 1944. For text of the Agreement, see Department of State Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) No. 2313, or 2 UST 1714. For correspondence relative to the Civil Affairs Agreement, see Foreign Relations, 1944. vol. iii, pp. 694–730, passim.↩