Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1945, General: The United Nations, Volume I

500.CC/3–1745

Memorandum by the Secretary of State to President Roosevelt ⁴⁵

[ Washington ,] March 14, 1945.

Ambassador Hurley ⁴⁶ has suggested that you might wish to send the attached telegram⁴⁷ to Chiang Kai-shek in regard to Chinese Communist representation on the Chinese delegation to the San Francisco conference. We have discussed the matter with General Hurley and find ourselves in full accord with his suggestion and with the objectives which have prompted him to make it.

Briefly, the suggestion is that you invite Chiang’s attention to the advantages which might flow from the inclusion of representatives of the Chinese Communist and other political parties on the Chinese delegation to the San Francisco conference. Two advantages are mentioned: the favorable impression on the conference and the impetus to political unification in China.

E. R. Stettinius, Jr.

45. Marginal notation: “OK FDR.”
46. Ambassador Hurley had left China on February 19, 1945, for consultation in Washington, where he remained until April 3.
47. Telegram 447, March 15, 8 p.m., infra.