President Roosevelt to the British Prime Minister (Churchill)77
557. The proposed agreement between your Government and Russia concerning Rumania and Greece, outlined in your telegram no. 687 of May 31, was discussed by Lord Halifax with Mr. Hull on May 30. The State Department has communicated to Lord Halifax the reasons why this Government is unwilling to approve the proposed arrangement. Briefly, we acknowledge that the militarily responsible Government in any given territory will inevitably make decisions required by military developments but are convinced that the natural tendency for such decisions to extend to other than military fields would be strengthened by an agreement of the type suggested. In our opinion, this would certainly result in the persistence of differences between you and the Soviets and in the division of the Balkan region into [Page 118] spheres of influence despite the declared intention to limit the arrangement to military matters.
We believe efforts should preferably be made to establish consultative machinery to dispel misunderstandings and restrain the tendency toward the development of exclusive spheres.
- Copy of telegram obtained from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N.Y.↩