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Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Berle)
| Participants: | M. Baudet and Gen. Chas. Luguet of the Fighting French; |
| Mr. A. A. Berle, Jr. |
M. Baudet came in to introduce General Luguet as the officer of the French National Committee delegation with power to discuss aviation matters. He inquired about forthcoming discussions concerning civil aviation.
I told him that no present arrangements for such talks were concluded. I said we had proposed to the British the holding of bilateral conversations between the United States and Great Britain, and other conversations with Great Britain and other countries with a view to discovering whether there was a basis for holding an international conference later. This proposal was still being discussed.
[Page 391]M. Baudet asked whether such bilateral conversations would be secret, or whether other observers could sit in. I said that while they were not designed to be secret, plainly you could not have conversations with other people sitting in. M. Baudet likewise asked whether the bilateral conversations were to be simultaneous. I said that our idea was to try to make them as nearly so as could be done, but, of course, one had to begin somewhere. I could not as yet say whether this plan would go forward or not.
General Luguet then said that France had a great deal to offer in any general conversation. They had territories in Africa, and Madagascar and Indochina. These, he said, had great value from the point of view of weather and other safety information, and France could then bring a very great deal to the table of international collaboration. I said I was very sure they could and that I was very sure that French interests would, in due time, have an opportunity to state their views.
M. Baudet then said that they had contracts with Pan American Airways dating back to 1939, and he wondered whether they were to be superseded and a new basis reached, or whether we were to take up these particular agreements. I said I did not care to discuss the question at all piecemeal; in any event, I thought we had to arrive at some general principles before taking up specific cases.