Office of the Historian

800.6363/1563c: Telegram

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

Washington, March 29, 1944—5 p.m.

2420. The British Embassy here informed the Department on March 2316 of a telegram it had received from London on that day stating that Sir William Brown17 has been appointed to head the official British delegation for the oil discussions here and that the remainder of the delegation will be named shortly. The Embassy stated that you were advised of the foregoing.

It is understood that it is the British intention that the delegation referred to will conduct for them the technical preliminary discussions which will precede the conversations at the higher level. In this connection, the telegram received by the British Embassy stated that the names of the Ministerial Committee will not be made public.

While this appears to be an indirect and partial answer to the message to the Prime Minister from the President, contained in Department’s no. 1836 of March 10, it is believed desirable, if you have not already done so, that you ascertain directly the Prime Minister’s reaction to that message and secure his reply without further delay.

Hull
  1. British note, dated March 23, not printed.↩
  2. Permanent Secretary of the British Ministry of Home Security; formerly Secretary of the Petroleum Division of the British Ministry of Fuel and Power and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Petroleum Control Board.↩