Office of the Historian

740.0011 EW/6–744

Memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State to President Roosevelt

[Washington,] June 7, 1944.

Subject: Proposal for Fake Hitler Propaganda Speech.

We have carefully considered this proposal,35 the outline of which I return herewith.36 We feel that even if the scheme were feasible, which we think is doubtful, it would be impossible to convince the Soviet Government that it represented only psychological warfare. We believe that they, and many other people in Europe besides the Germans, would believe the suggested broadcast represented the secret policy of the United States and England. In our opinion, therefore, the proposal should not be considered seriously.

E. R. Stettinius, Jr.
  1. See supra.↩
  2. Not found in Department files, but see footnote 32, above.↩