890D.01/5–3145
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
| Participants: | The President |
| Acting Secretary Grew |
| Also present during part of the conference: | |
| Admiral Leahy | |
| Captain Vardaman76 | |
| Mr. Phillips | |
At my conference with the President at 10:15 this morning the following matters were taken up:
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2. Admiral Leahy, Captain Vardaman and Mr. Phillips then entered the study and there was a general discussion of the situation in the Levant and of General de Gaulle’s proposed visit to Washington.77 Although at my last conference with the President he had directed me to arrange for General de Gaulle to come to Washington on June 12, I told the President that I had held up action, first, in view of the fact that there was no certainty that the San Francisco Conference will have terminated by June 12 and, second, owing to some doubt as to whether a visit from General de Gaulle would be desirable before a settlement of the hostilities in the Levant. I said that it might be held, that a personal conference with de Gaulle might prove helpful to this situation, but on the other hand the Arab states might interpret such a visit as indicating our leaning toward the French position. The President expressed himself as very much relieved that I had refrained from specifying a definite date for the visit and said he thought it might now be set for the second period mentioned by de Gaulle,78 that is, between June 25 and July 5. I said to the President that in my opinion it would be much better to avoid any commitment at present as to a specific date, and that we could explain to de Gaulle that the matter had to be left open owing to a possible conflict with [Page 1121] the President’s intention to proceed to San Francisco to close the Conference. The President said that he agreed.
There was then some discussion as to the President’s reply to Churchill’s telegram to the President requesting his concurrence in the decision of the British Government to intervene in Syria. Churchill had asked for a reply last night, but in the meantime the British Government had already acted. It was decided to inform Churchill that the President had agreed with the intentions of the British Government to take appropriate measures to prevent further bloodshed in the Levant.
I then told the President that I proposed in my press conference at noon today to release to the press the text of our note of May 28 to the Provisional French Government,78a in which the President concurred, and it was also decided that I should tell the press that this Government had concurred in the British decision. There was also some discussion as to what should be said in reply to a question from the press as to whether our lend-lease material was being used by the French in the Levant. I submitted to the President the following formula:
“Military equipment transferred by this Government to the French Government under lend-lease was provided in accordance with the terms of an agreement by which such equipment is to be used for the defense of France against the Axis in this war and this Government does not intend to provide military equipment for any other purpose. This Government has not assigned any material for use in Syria.”
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- Capt. James K. Vardaman, Naval Aide to President Truman.↩
- For documentation on this subject, see vol. iv, pp. 661 ff.↩
- See letter of May 29 by the French Ambassador (Bonnet) to President Truman, vol. iv, p. 701.↩
- See telegram 2331 to Paris, p. 1104.↩