800.796/9–944: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)
2174. The President has approved the calling of an International Air Conference to be held in the United States on or about November 1, and we are accordingly issuing invitations to about fifty nations including, of course, the Soviet Union, to attend.
The Conference will have for its objective the further development of the topics discussed in the recent exploratory conversations which we held with a limited number of nations. We consider that the reopening [Page 538] of great areas to civil aviation requires action on a multilateral basis at the earliest possible date.
The formal invitation will be forwarded within a few days and in presenting it to the Soviet Government the Department desires that you explain to them that since the calling of this Conference is of the utmost urgency, we have not followed the course which we ordinarily would of consulting them before hand nor did we consult any other nation. We trust that the Soviet Government will be in agreement with us with respect to the urgency of this matter.
It is contemplated that this Conference will be on a fairly high level, however, we will advise definitely on this point in the near future.
[On September 11, 1944, the Government of the United States sent out invitations to an International Civil Aviation Conference to take place in the United States beginning November 1, 1944. For text of the invitation and list of governments and authorities to whom invitations were extended, see Department of State Bulletin, September 17, 1944, pages 298–299, or Department of State Publication No. 2820, Proceedings of the International Civil Aviation Conference, Chicago, Illinois, November 1–December 7, 1944 volume I, pages 11–13.]