840.50/5–144
Memorandum by Mr. Hayden Raynor, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State, to the Director of the Office of Economic Affairs (Hawkins)
Mr. Hawkins: I believe you will be interested in the following excerpts from conversations Mr. Stettinius had with Mr. Eden and the Prime Minister:56
“Mr. Eden. He mentioned the fact that he was embarrassed at not being able to give us a final answer on the Steering Committee proposal but stated that he would review the matter with the Prime Minister promptly and hoped to be in a position to communicate with you on definite lines within the next two weeks.”
“The Prime Minister. I impressed upon the Prime Minister the importance of continuing with the economic conversations as rapidly as possible. The Prime Minister stated that he would have to have a thorough review of this matter with the Dominions Prime Ministers in discussions here in the next two weeks, that there were a number of important political considerations on the part of his Government that had to be taken into careful consideration, and that it was impossible for him to indicate at this time with any certainty as to when these conversations could be resumed or on what level.
“I received the impression from the Prime Minister that we might in two or three weeks time receive a less favorable answer from the British than Eden hopes.”
- Marginal note: “On April 25—J.M.L.”↩