Office of the Historian

841.24/10–2344: Telegram

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

Washington, October 27, 1944—3 p.m.

8972. With reference to the pricing of individual items of reciprocal aid by the British (refer to Department’s telegrams 8661 of October 19, 1944, and 8798 of October 23, 1944)42 after full discussions with Denby, Edgerton, Stark,43 and Reed44 you are requested to discuss the matter urgently with the Foreign Office and the Treasury, requesting a lifting of the ban on disclosure to our armed forces and FEA of pricing data on reciprocal aid known to be available in British records. We are not asking for the compilation of extensive new data, but rather the disclosure of existing types of data which we legitimately require to present the reciprocal aid case properly at home.

It is suggested that if you are successful in having the general ban lifted, working parties headed by the individuals mentioned above discuss the details of the matter with the British Treasury, Army, and Admiralty.

Stettinius
  1. Neither printed.↩
  2. Adm. Harold R. Stark, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in Europe.↩
  3. Philip D. Reed, Chief of the U.S. Mission for Economic Affairs in London.↩