Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1944, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, The Far East, Volume V

867N.01/2373

Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Berle) to the Secretary of State

[Washington,] January 28, 1944.

Mr. Secretary:

H. Res. 418 and 419

“Resolved, that the United States shall use its good offices and take appropriate measures to the end that the doors of Palestine shall be opened for free entry of Jews into that country, and that there shall be full opportunity for colonization so that the Jewish people may ultimately reconstitute Palestine as a free and democratic Jewish commonwealth.”

(This is approved by both McCormack⁷ and Martin.⁸)

Mr. Sol Bloom⁹ telephoned me today to state that the foregoing resolution had been introduced by a Republican and a Democrat,¹⁰ and approved by the majority and minority leaders.

Unless otherwise advised, he plans to call his Committee for Tuesday; have no hearings but merely read Prime Minister Churchill’s statement objecting to the White Paper;¹¹ and then report the resolution out favorably and let it go at that.

A. A. Berle, Jr.

7. John W. McCormack, Majority Leader, House of Representatives.
8. Joseph W. Martin, Jr., Minority Leader, House of Representatives.
9. Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives.
10. Representatives Ranulf Compton of Connecticut and James A. Wright of Pennsylvania, respectively.
11. The New York Times had reported on January 18, 1944, that the American Jewish Committee, a non-Zionist organization but opposed to the White Paper, had submitted a memorandum to the British Ambassador, Lord Halifax, calling attention to the Churchill opposition to the White Paper policy of the 1939 British Government; for Mr. Churchill’s speech in opposition in the House of Commons as a private member, on May 23, 1939, see Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 5th series, vol. 347, cols. 2167 ff.