840.48 Refugees/2091
President Roosevelt to the Secretary of State
I do not agree with the memorandum from the Division of European Affairs.51 The American position from the very beginning has [Page 219] been far broader than a mere negotiation relating to German pressure on the Jews or the problem of political refugees. Nor can I agree with the statement that “When the war broke the principal justification for the continued existence of this consultative body ceased”.
It is true, as the Division states, that the British and French showed scant sympathy toward our viewpoint that no matter how the war resulted there would be a vast refugee problem. I cannot see why we would be “placed in a position where we would have either to subscribe to or oppose the Anglo-French position”.
This government is genuinely interested in the solution of the refugee problem in its broadest sense, i. e., not merely those unfortunate people who are forced by government action to leave their homes and their countries, but also all those who, at the end of this war, will for a thousand other reasons find it desirable voluntarily to seek new homes in new lands.
Even if this proposed meeting only “makes pretty speeches” it is worthwhile keeping this Committee very definitely alive. The Division, I fear, is thinking in terms of the immediate needs of a definite number of German, Spanish, Polish, Czecho-Slovak individuals and families and fails to appreciate the enormous importance of the long-range view which will take into consideration new home seekers from France, Great Britain and even the United States. It will be time enough later on to consider the question of transferring certain activities from Mr. Taylor’s committee to Governor Winant’s committee but, in the meantime, I am not yet ready to “put the Intergovernmental Committee quietly to sleep”.
- Supra.↩