851.51/1–3046: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:16 p.m.]
486. My 360, January 23.14 A Foreign Ministry official tells me informally that Léon Blum has now been designated Ambassador Extraordinary with the mission of negotiation economic and financial agreements with Allied countries and also to negotiate for urgently required imports which France will need in the coming months.
The Foreign Office believes that Blum’s mission is primarily “a good will mission” and that negotiations will be left to technicians. My informant expects Blum to leave within the next week or two for brief visits to England and the US. Thus far, however, neither Blum nor the Foreign Ministry has approached the Embassy officially on his trip.
- Not printed. In this telegram Ambassador Caffery reported that “Léon Blum has just sent me a confidential message stating that after the formation of the new government he intends to make a short trip to the United States. The purpose of his mission is to make a sort of good will tour and to see informally various United States officials and leaders with a view to explaining France’s desperate needs for coal, wheat, etc.” (851.00/1–2346)↩