867N.01/6–1645
Memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State to President Truman
According to information reaching us from Zionist sources at San Francisco,90 the Zionists desire to confer with you in the near future in anticipation of your meeting with Mr. Churchill,91 as they think it is likely that Palestine will be discussed at that meeting.
For your information, we are preparing some material for you on Palestine for possible use at the meeting, as we feel that it will be necessary for the British to make some decision regarding that country in the near Future. It is not our Belief that the question is one which will require detailed discussion, or any decision on your part, during the course of your meeting with Mr. Churchill. It would be most helpful, however, if we could have some idea of the intentions of the British Government with regard to the future of Palestine.
The Zionists will undoubtedly give you some memorials and some printed matter and will urge that you insist upon a settlement of the question in their favor. You may recall that our basic attitude on Palestine the problems which should come up for settlement after the war through the United Nations Organization, and that in any event no decision regarding it should be taken without full consultation with both Arabs and Jews. It does not seem, therefore, that you need to go any further, unless you care to do so, than to thank the Zionist leaders for any material which they may give you and to assure them that their views will be given your careful consideration.
- For documentation regarding the United Nations Conference on International Organization, held at San Francisco, April 25–June 26, 1945, see vol. i, pp. 1 ff.↩
- This is a reference to the impending July meeting between President Truman, British Prime Minister Churchill, and Soviet Chairman (Premier) Stalin at Potsdam, July 16–August 2, 1945. For documentation regarding this meeting, see Foreign Relations, The Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference), 1945, 2 vols.; for Conference documentation on Palestine, see ibid., vol. i, pp. 972 ff. and ibid., vol. ii, pp. 1402 ff.↩