855.24/8–1445: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Belgium ( Sawyer )
749. Yurtel 1042 of August 1433 is appreciated. Copy of broadcast press release34 referred to being sent by pouch. Fact that Belgian food situation, although still modest, covers basic needs is precisely result of Army deliveries after January 1945. These deliveries, together with civil imports now approximate some three quarters million tons. If imports of this magnitude provide only modest rations for Belgians, then one million tons monthly for all Europe is no more than minimum import need. With reference to last paragraph yurtel policy re feeding Germans has already been outlined to you in previous messages. For Germany only such imports as are necessary to maintain low subsistence standard after maximum possible exploitation of indigenous resources and interzonal exchange are contemplated. All such imports are to be paid for, not given to Germans. You and your Staff including Press, Labor and Cultural Attaches should seize every opportunity to correct serious misapprehensions concerning our policy which you indicate exist in Belgian minds on these points.
- Not printed; in this telegram Ambassador Sawyer expressed opposition to sacrifices by the United States in order to supply food to Europe, especially to enemy countries.↩
- Press release of August 11, 1945, giving text of radio discussion by Joseph C. Grew, Under Secretary of State, Archibald MacLeish, Assistant Secretary of State, and Willard Thorp, Deputy to Assistant Secretary of State William L. Clayton, on United States relief policy for Europe, Department of State Bulletin, August 12, 1945, p. 242.↩