740.00116 European War/1259: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:50 p.m.]
517. In a conversation between Sir Orme Sargent and Bucknell, Sir Orme questioned the advisability of phrasing lettered paragraph d in the Embassy’s 320, January 13, 7 p.m., as had been agreed upon in the last meeting of the London Political Warfare Coordinating Committee since he doubted whether the present terms of reference of the committee permitted it to make recommendations as to specific action which should be taken by the two Governments. He agreed, however, on the desirability of avoiding any difference in propaganda lines on the part of the British-American and Soviets and suggested that the following be substituted for paragraph d in the Embassy’s telegram referred to above:
“Agreed to call the attention of the British and American Governments to the difficulty with which the Committee will be faced in carrying out (two), if the Soviet Government, in the case of any future trials, publicly link such trials with the Moscow Declaration, and to express the hope that the two Governments will supplement the ruling given in answer to the Committee’s request of December 24, so that the Committee may be in a position to meet this difficulty if and when it arises.”
The “two” referred to in Sir Orme’s suggested draft is in connection with discussion during the meeting of the Committee where members were agreed upon the urgency of formulating a propaganda policy in view of recent reports that further trials by the Russians were to take place in the near future.
We see no objection to substituting Sir Orme’s draft for paragraph d as he requests.
Please inform OWI and Chiefs of Staff.