Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1936, General, British Commonwealth, Volume I

740.0011 Mutual Guarantee (Locarno)/755: Telegram

The Ambassador in France (Straus) to the Secretary of State

Paris, July 24, 1936—4 p.m.
[Received 4:35 p.m.]

645. We talked with Vienot, Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, this morning regarding the London meeting of the three powers.⁸¹ He said speaking frankly and in confidence that the agreement reached as expressed in the communiqué⁸² did not satisfy the French point of view in all respects. However, comparing the text of the final communiqué with that which had been under active discussion among the three powers for several days previously, he felt that it provided a satisfactory solution. Moreover, he had just talked with Delbos by telephone in London who had expressed himself as very satisfied with the meeting and particularly pleased with the atmosphere in which the discussions had taken place and with the friendly understanding of each other’s points of view on the part of the British and French delegations.

Vienot said that only after the five-power Locarno meeting has taken place and in the light of what there transpires can it be determined whether the larger conference in which other powers would participate, mentioned in paragraph (5) of the communiqué, could be held. He stated that the French Government had not made prior agreement on holding such a conference a condition for the meeting of the five Locarno powers envisaged in paragraph (3).

He expressed the view that the communiqué gives evidence of a broad and liberal spirit on the part of the three Governments and stated that for its part the French Government intended to make every possible effort to work out with the four other Locarno powers the settlement of questions between them which will permit the establishment of peace in Europe on a sound and lasting basis.

When his attention was invited to the careful wording of the last part of paragraph (2) of the communiqué relative to the “division apparent or real of Europe into opposing blocs” he smiled and said that this had indeed been carefully drafted but that the sense of this passage that should be retained is that even an apparent division of Europe into opposing camps would constitute a menace to peace which must be avoided at all costs.

In reply to an inquiry as to whether the German answer to the British questions was expected soon, he said that while in the past 2 or 3 days it had been reported from Berlin that Hitler would answer soon in the form of a declaration or speech he personally felt that there would be no answer until at least after the Olympic games.⁸³ He felt that there would now be a “European conspiracy” to keep as much as possible of the month of August relatively quiet in order not to interfere with vacation plans.

Cipher copies to London, Brussels, Rome, Berlin, Geneva.

Straus

81. Conference on July 23 between representatives of Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom.
82. Issued on July 23; for text, see Documents on International Affairs, 1936, p. 218. The text was communicated to the German and Italian Governments on July 24.
83. The German Government did not reply to the British “questionnaire”.