811.7441/42C
The Assistant Secretary of State (Long) to the President’s Special Assistant (Hopkins)
Dear Harry: I have your memorandum dated January 11 from Lord Beaverbrook stating that the arrangements for the United States to communicate direct with the British colonies has been carried into effect for the duration. That’s perfect.
Now can we button up the South American situation as per my memorandum to you of several days ago? The Bio conference convenes today1 and if we could get assurances that the British Government would direct their people to cooperate with us with the understanding that it is our1 diplomatic responsibility to make the arrangements down there, then that would be one thousand percent.2
- Underscored on the original.↩
- Underscored on the original.↩
- The Third Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, which met at Rio de Janeiro, January 15–28, 1942, agreed upon a number of resolutions, including one on telecommunications (No. XL), in which it was resolved “To recommend that each American Republic adopt the necessary and immediate measures to close all radiotelephone and radiotelegraph communication between the American Republics and the aggressor states and all territories subservient to them, except in so far as official communications of the American Governments are concerned.” For complete text, see Department of State Bulletin, vol. vi, February 7, 1942, p. 140. For documentation on the Rio Conference, see Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. v, pp. 6 ff.; for the further development of this question, see section entitled “Efforts to Prevent Communication with the Axis Countries through Commercial Wireless Companies”, ibid., pp. 108 ff.↩