740.00119 Council/7–1146: Telegram
The Counselor of the Department of State (Cohen) to President Truman31
[Received July 11—9:50 p.m.]
3415. For the President only from Ben Cohen. Secretary Byrnes is planning to return with Senators Connally and Vandenberg the end of this week or the beginning of next. If he does he will have less than two weeks in Washington before returning Paris for the Peace Conference. Unless you think it important that he should return to Washington, I venture to suggest the advisability of your urging him to remain on this side and take a little rest before Peace Conference begins.
He has been working under considerable nervous tension and while he seems quite well, the strain on him has been great. If he remained here he could give from here a radio report on the work of the Council [Page 904] which would probably be as effective as a radio address from Washington. Knowing his strong sense of duty, I am sure he would not wish in any circumstances to take a rest if you thought he was needed at home. But if there is no pressing reason for his return, I should hope that you might by telephone attempt to persuade him to take a rest on this side instead of making a hurried trip home.32
He does not know of course that I am communicating with you.
- This message was transmitted through the facilities of the Embassy in Paris.↩
- According to the accounts in Byrnes, Speaking Frankly, p. 137, and Byrnes, All in One Lifetime, p. 325, President Truman did suggest that the Secretary vacation in Switzerland until the opening of the Peace Conference, but the need to deal with urgent Department business, particularly the Foreign Service Bill of 1946, obliged the Secretary to return directly to Washington.↩