Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1944, General, Volume I

Matthews Files

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State (Pasvolsky)

[Washington,] November 15, 1944.

Subject: Treatment of Germany

Participants:	The President
	The Under Secretary
	Mr. Hackworth
	Mr. Pasvolsky

In reply to the Under Secretary’s question, the President said that he had read the memorandum submitted to him on the treatment of Germany^82a and thought that it was entirely satisfactory except for one point.

As he saw the picture, the system that would become established would be that General Eisenhower and the British and Russian Commanders would be in charge of their respective zones. In addition, there would be a commission in Germany which would consist of military men of a lower rank. What bothers the President is that on this commission in Berlin there would be insufficient representation of a tough civilian point of view. He, therefore, wants to have something worked out that would take care of this situation, possibly by way of giving a general’s commission to some outstanding civilian and making him the U.S. member of the Berlin commission.

Mr. Stettinius asked the President whether or not he would now be willing to send copies of the memorandum to the War, Navy and Treasury Departments as a Department of State proposal which he considers satisfactory but on which he would like to have their comments. The President said that he thought this to be the right procedure and that the necessary transmitting memoranda should be prepared for him.^82b He then added that the Secretary of the Treasury was lunching with him today and that he would show him the memorandum, indicating his general approval of it.

The President said he was still in a tough mood and that he is determined to be tough with Germany. After some discussion, he agreed that the memorandum was sufficiently tough. He said that what he liked about it particularly was that it did not dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. There are many questions that must be left for future determination, since we have no way of knowing what we shall find in Germany. He himself used to know Germany well, having studied there. But he would not want to rely on that as a basis of reliable judgment as to what Germany will be like after the termination of hostilities.

1. The reference here is to the memorandum of November 11 from the Acting Secretary of State to President Roosevelt, p. 398.
2. The Department immediately prepared and sent to the President the requested memoranda, but the President indicated that he wished to redraft the policy paper on economic treatment of Germany. Apparently this redraft was never prepared. The file was returned from the White House to the Department of State on March 6, 1945. (862.50/11–1144)