Office of the Historian

Roosevelt Papers: Telegram

Prime Minister Churchill to President Roosevelt 1

top secret
London, 22 October 1944.

[Excerpts]

Prime Minister to President Roosevelt Personal and Top Secret Number 801.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Para 9. U. J. also raised formally2 the Montreux Convention, wishing for modification for the free passage of Russian warships. We did not contest this in principle. Revision is clearly necessary as Japan is a signatory and Inonu missed his market last December. We left it that detailed proposals should be made from the Russian side. He said they would be moderate.3

  1. Sent by the United States Military Attaché, London, via Army channels. For other excerpts from this telegram, see ante, pp. 10, 159–160, 206, and post, p. 400.↩
  2. In the Churchill-Stalin conversations at Moscow in October.↩
  3. In reply (No. 632, dated October 22, 1944) Roosevelt commented: “Your statement of the present attitude of U. J. towards war criminals, the future of Germany, and Montreux convention is most interesting. We should discuss these matters together with our Pacific war effort at the forthcoming three party meeting.” (Roosevelt Papers.)↩