740.00112A EW/6–1244

The Director of the Office of Wartime Economic Affairs ( Taft ) to the Foreign Economic Administrator ( Crowley )

My Dear Mr. Crowley: The Secretary has requested me to reply to your letter of June 12, 1944, concerning the maintenance of Proclaimed List sanctions during the armistice period. This matter has been receiving the attention of the authorities charged with the maintenance of the Proclaimed List and a number of conferences on the subject have been held here in Washington and with the British authorities in London. The Departmental release of May 4,65 in which a statement concerning this question was included, was a result of these discussions.

There are, of course, many problems that arise in connection with the determination to continue the Lists into the armistice period and I have asked Mr. Russell, the Chairman of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Proclaimed List, to form a special committee, including the representatives on the present Interdepartmental Committee and representatives of such other departments, agencies and divisions as may be interested in this broad problem. I am informed that one meeting of such a group has been held at which the problem was discussed with Mr. Dingle Foot, the Parliamentary Secretary for [Page 180] the Ministry of Economic Warfare. You will, of course, be informed of the progress of this committee’s work through the representatives of the Foreign Economic Administration on the committee.

Sincerely yours,

Charles P. Taft
  1. Speech made by Francis H. Russell on May 4; for text, see Department of State Bulletin, May 6, 1944, p. 405.