Office of the Historian

840.48 Refugees/5060: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)26

Washington, January 31, 1944.

774. The following telegram is sent at the request of the President’s War Refugee Board:

Refer to Department’s cable 634 of January 25 concerning the President’s Executive Order establishing the War Refugee Board and declaring the policy of this Government.

In discussing this matter with the British Foreign Office, you are requested to make it clear that the establishment of the War Refugee Board represents this Government’s determination to effectively carry out without delay the policy heretofore agreed upon by the two Governments to take all possible measures for the speedy rescue and relief of the refugees of Europe.

Although this Government on its part intends to take all possible action with all possible speed, we hope that this effort will not be unilateral and we wish to make it clear that it continues to be the [Page 990] policy of this Government to encourage and participate in effective cooperative efforts with other governments.

As the President has stated, the Board of course will cooperate fully with the Intergovernmental Committee and other interested international organizations.

You are requested to make clear to the British Government the position of this Government and our desire for its cooperative action. You should explore with the appropriate officials of the Foreign Office the possibility of implementing such cooperation through the issuance by the British Government of a declaration of policy similar to that made by the President and the issuance by the Foreign Office of instructions to its representatives in other countries comparable to the instructions contained in the Department’s telegram 634.

Please keep us informed of the attitude of the British on this matter.

Hull
  1. Substance of this message transmitted in circular airgram of February 29, 7:30 p.m., to all American Missions except those at London, Ciudad Trujillo, San Salvador, Port-au-Prince, Tegucigalpa, La Paz, and Buenos Aires.↩