800.24/7–2244
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador (Halifax)
Excellency: I refer to Sir Ronald Campbell’s note of July 22, 1944, concerning the transfer of military supplies to third countries.
I am pleased to learn that your Government concurs entirely in the policy of the United States Government as set out in paragraph four of my note of June 20, 1944, which provides that the two Governments shall consult and concert their actions before making transfers of munitions to other countries, and that transfers to third countries of munitions of a kind which either Government has received from the other shall be by agreement between the appropriate authorities of the two Governments.
I am concerned, however, about the apparent assumption of your Government, as indicated in the last paragraph of Sir Ronald’s note, that the President and the Prime Minister, in declaring that the munitions of Great Britain and the United States should be deemed to be in a common pool, intended that the origin of the munitions should be disregarded. It is true that the munition resources of the United States and Great Britain have been pooled in the sense that their munitions are made available to each other for the wisest and most efficient conduct of the war. But, in the absence of such completed settlements as are contemplated by the Lend-Lease Act, neither the Master Agreement nor the Lend-Lease Act itself permits the United States to disregard, after the transfer of supplies to Great Britain, the origin of the supplies so transferred. The specific reservation by the United States of the right to reclaim such supplies is proof of this. The decisions as to whether certain defense supplies are transferred to Great Britain is determined, of course, by the British need for such supplies, and bearing upon that need is the use which Great Britain seeks to make of these or similar supplies of British origin.
As regards the grounds on which American consent to transfers is given, it is legitimate for the United States to consider the fact that American munitions are being or have been transferred for British use on Lend-Lease as a datum pertinent to consenting to the transfer of similar munitions by Great Britain to some third country. This is not to imply that strategic needs are not to be considered in consenting to such a transfer. Indeed, such needs are primary, but obviously other considerations pertinent to the very widest concept of strategy are also relevant.
I renew my appreciation of your assurances that Great Britain concurs in the policy of the United States as expressed in my earlier [Page 94] note. I must, however, point out the limitations upon the common pool conception of our munition resources which must, as a matter of law and policy, be borne in mind.
Accept [etc.]