500.A15A4/1267
Memorandum of Trans-Atlantic Telephone Conversation34
Gibson : Hello, Mr. Secretary. I want to tell you about this afternoon’s meeting and some other things. At this afternoon’s meeting we had speeches from eleven delegations. Belgium, Brazil, Turkey, Cuba, Austria, Norway, the Dominican Republic, Finland, Hungary and [Canada and Denmark]. All except Finland supported the President’s program and accepted it either completely or in principle. The Finnish Delegate accepted the portion relative to the abolition of aggressive weapons but repeated the old arguments for special consideration to be given to the unprotected states who cannot reduce their armament without political guarantees of assistance. Belgium’s speech is significant in that they give a wholehearted acceptance of the President’s plan—the first time they have come out quite independently of the French. At the beginning Simon sent in a letter which was read by the Chairman explaining the statement made by Baldwin. It included the suggestions which we added to it, stating their readiness to discuss existing differences with regard to the President’s program. Copies of this statement were circulated to the delegates during the meeting so that they could spend their time reading that instead of listening to the speeches, and Simon had a press conference and sent the press away. That is with regard to the afternoon meeting.
[Page 278]We also want to consult with you as to speeches. We get some rather confidential indications that this statement is aimed in part at complicating the situation of the gentleman who is now in Lausanne and we want to be very careful not to facilitate any maneuvers that may be directed against him. We feel we want to be careful not to promote this by any ill-advised statement. He is extremely ill; he has gone to bed and his eyes have gone back on him again so we haven’t been able to see him and he is not in a condition to take an active part in the discussions. We feel that tomorrow morning we ought to have a rather frank talk with Simon, letting him know that whatever his intentions were, this has complicated the situation very much and has facilitated the backing out of the French and possibly Japanese, and that it might be turned to advantage in a sense if we handle it right. If we impress upon him that in order to correct any possible misapprehension he must now make the resolution and be frank with us for the adoption of a stronger resolution in support of the President’s plan. What do you think of that talk?
Secretary: Well, what I think is this: that you want to get through your resolution and get the conference wound up as quickly as you can.
Gibson : Yes, that is our view. We think we must impress upon him now that he must make it stronger in support of the resolution in order to correct any impression that has been created in the minds of other delegations that we are at odds.
Secretary: Yes, and then have the motion to adjourn for the study passed as quickly as you can.
Gibson : That is our view. Mr. Kellogg has been here today and has been extremely helpful. He talked with Sir John after the meeting and told him in extremely plain language that they were in danger of getting back to the atmosphere of the 1927 conference;35 that they had to be very careful to maintain the correct impression that they were working with us and not against us. So I think he has been extremely useful to us, saying things that we could hardly have said without offense. He thinks that we ought to have a frank and free talk as to the necessity of driving ahead at full speed a comprehensive and very definite adoption in principle of the President’s plan before adjournment.
Secretary: Yes, I agree.
Gibson : There are about fifteen more people going to speak tomorrow and so far as we know all of them are going to adopt the President’s plan. It has been a very impressive performance today [Page 279] and will doubtless be the same tomorrow and, in the meantime, I think the British are going to feel a good deal of pressure from home telling them very definitely the fact that they are working with us.
Secretary: Well, I hope so, but you go ahead and try to finish the thing up as quickly as you can.
Gibson : We are fully alive to the needs of that; we are working against time. We will let you know anything that happens.
Secretary: Well, I am very much obliged.
- Between Mr. Gibson in Geneva and Mr. Stimson in Washington, July 7, 1932, 3:35 p.m.↩
- Conference for the Limitation of Naval Armament, June 20–August 4, 1927; see Foreign Relations, 1927, vol. i, pp. 1 ff.↩