862.414/4–2645
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. Oscar S. Straus, Division of Foreign Activity Correlation
| Participants: | Mr. Paul Culbertson—EUK21 |
| Mr. Harold Moseley—EUR | |
| Mr. D. D. Maclean—Second Secretary, British Embassy and | |
| Mr. O. S. Straus—FC |
At Mr. Matthews’ (EUR)22 request that our program be correlated with the British, Mr. Maclean was asked to come to the Department.
Accordingly, a meeting was held in Mr. Culbertson’s office at 5:00 p.m. on April 25 and at this time Mr. Maclean was informed that it is the desire of the Department that Great Britain assist in the attempt to obtain information contained in German embassies, consulates, and other governmental offices in neutral countries. Mr. Maclean was familiar with the Department’s circular telegram of March 31, 3 p.m. since the Foreign Office in London had been informed of the context through the Minister at Dublin23 and the Ambassador at Lisbon24 since our Minister and Ambassador respectively, had conferred with their British colleague on the spot.
Mr. Maclean was informed that telegrams were prepared and were ready to send out to the American Legation at Stockholm and to our missions in the other American Republics instructing them to act in this matter in conjunction with their British colleagues and that similar instructions had been drafted to our missions in the remainder of the active neutral countries. Mr. Maclean approved of the cooperative action and stated that he would immediately telegraph the Foreign [Page 1140] Office at London in this sense. Accordingly, at the end of the meeting the Department’s telegrams were released to our missions in the other American Republics and to the American Legation at Stockholm.
At the same time Mr. Maclean was informed that the Department felt that the Soviet Government should be apprised of the action proposed in the Department’s circular telegram of March 31. Likewise, the Department felt that the Soviet Government should be invited to have its representatives in Kabul and Stockholm associate themselves with their American and British counterparts in an effort to obtain the desired information. Mr. Maclean agreed to the procedure and stated that he would relay this information to the Foreign Office at London.