500.A15A5/88a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Bingham)
239. Norman Davis will be reaching London in a few days for the preliminary naval conversations. Our idea is to play down their importance in the eyes of the public as much as possible at least until the arrival of the Japanese experts in Mid-July. Largely to meet Japanese susceptibilities we desired to head up the conversations through the Embassy so as not to give rise to the impression that they constituted in any sense a preliminary conference or that we are setting up a separate Delegation at London. We hope in this way to profit both by your position as Ambassador to Great Britain and by that of Davis as our primary authority on disarmament. If the President and I did not know both you and Davis so well, we should [Page 255] have hesitated to ask you to work together under such an arrangement, but with your rank and special knowledge of British conditions as an adjunct to Davis’ technical preeminence in carrying through the conversations which he arranged for last spring, I am sure that this Government will be in a position to profit. I accordingly count on the whole-hearted cooperation of each of you and appreciate your help.