Office of the Historian

811.0145/6–2845

The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Interior (Ickes)

Washington, July 5, 1945.

My Dear Mr. Secretary: Your letter of June 28, 1945, to the Honorable Edward E. Stettinius, Jr., relating to the proposed proclamations and executive orders on the subject of the resources of the continental shelf and coastal fisheries has been brought to my attention.

As I am sure you will understand, this matter is new to me. I am impressed by the record of consideration and prior approval which the matter has had. I have been told of the meetings which the representatives of our two Departments have had with Senator O’Mahoney63 and of the hearings which his Committee has held on the matter.64

It would seem wise to me that before action is taken you and I should meet with Senator O’Mahoney, Senator Connally65 and perhaps [Page 1520] other Senators from the Foreign Relations and Public Lands Committee. I shall be glad to do this at any mutually convenient time.

Sincerely yours,

James F. Byrnes
  1. Joseph C. O’Mahoney of Wyoming.↩
  2. See American Petroleum Interests in Foreign Countries: Hearings before a Special Committee Investigating Petroleum Resources, United States Senate, 79th Cong., 1st sess., on S. Res. 36 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1946).↩
  3. Tom Connally of Texas, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.↩