852.00/5799: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Bullitt)
296. Your 838, June 22, midnight. The Under Secretary yesterday spoke on the telephone with the German Ambassador who was out of the city and, referring to the conversation had with the Ambassador by the Secretary of State at the time of the Almeria incident, inquired of the Ambassador whether he had received any information from his Government regarding the most recent developments in connection with the Spanish situation. The Ambassador replied that he had had no communication from his Government during the preceding 48 hours other than the text of the communiqué issued at Berlin and published by the press. The Ambassador further said that he would be most happy to keep this Government closely advised of all information which he received as to developments in the situation and as to the attitude of his Government, and expressed the personal belief that an amicable adjustment would be forthcoming.
The above is for your confidential information and not for communication [Page 339] to the Foreign Office. Reports to the New York Herald Tribune from its Paris Bureau and published this morning allege that the Department has instructed you to inform the Foreign Office that this Government would lend its “moral support” to the Franco-British démarche but that your Embassy has refused to confirm such reports. The Department has denied to the press that any instructions have been sent you in that sense. Because of the publication of these rumors, it would seem preferable for you not to communicate to the Foreign Office the inquiry made of the German Ambassador here for fear that such communication might be distorted. The statements you made to M. Blum as reported in the next to the last paragraph of the Embassy’s telegram under reference are, of course, entirely in accord with the policy of this Government.