Office of the Historian

852.48/71: Telegram

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

Paris, April 30, 1937—4 p.m.
[Received April 30—3:40 p.m.]

555. After luncheon today Delbos63 said to me that the French Cabinet would meet this afternoon and would decide to receive as refugees on French territory approximately 100,000 Basque women and children from the region of Bilbao. He said that the Basques had plenty of ships to send these refugees to France and asked if it might not be possible to obtain from the American Red Cross some contribution for their care. He said that any contribution whatsoever would be most gratefully received and that he felt that a contribution by the American Red Cross would be a most notable gesture in the interests of humanity.

I venture to suggest that you might ask Admiral Cary Grayson if there is the slightest possibility that the American Red Cross might make a contribution for this purpose.64

Bullitt
  1. Yvon Delbos, French Minister for Foreign Affairs.↩
  2. By telegram No. 196, April 30, 7 p.m., the Ambassador in France was informed that the Secretary of State had conferred with Admiral Grayson, the Chairman of the American National Red Cross, and the latter had assured the Secretary that the Red Cross would make a contribution.↩