740.00119 Control (Germany)/1–1145

Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Central European Affairs (Riddleberger)53

I have read the attached memorandum from the Secretary of the Treasury to the President54 respecting the treatment of Germany. [Page 389] In its general outline, it is very much the same plan that the Secretary of the Treasury advanced several months ago,55 except for the omission of his scheme for the partition of Germany. In face of the fact that the President has, on at least two occasions, indicated that he wished to discuss these matters first with the State and War Departments, my advice is that we should avoid any discussion with the Treasury on this matter.

If it should again become known that Mr. Morgenthau is actively advancing his ideas, we should once again be presenting Goebbels56 with some excellent propaganda material which he will no doubt know how to use most effectively inside Germany.

James W. Riddleberger
  1. Addressed to the Secretary of State and to the Director of the Office of European Affairs. A marginal note by Riddleberger states that Assistant Secretary of State Dunn had read and approved the memorandum.
  2. January 10, p. 376.
  3. The records of the Second Quebec Conference, September 11–16, 1944, which are scheduled for publication in a subsequent volume of Foreign Relations, will contain documentation regarding the discussions within the executive branch of the Government during August and September 1944 of United States economic policies towards a defeated Germany including the policy proposals of the Secretary of the Treasury. For continuation during October and November 1944 of the discussions within the Government concerning economic policy toward Germany, see Conferences at Malta and Yalta, pp. 143197. See also The Memoirs of Cordell Hull (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1948), vol. ii, pp. 1602–1622; Henry L. Stimson and McGeorge Bundy, On Active Service in Peace and War (Harper and Brothers, New York, 1947), pp. 568–583; Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Germany Is Our Problem (New York, Harper and Brothers, 1945).
  4. Joseph Goebbels, German Minister for Public Information.