Office of the Historian

740.0011 European War 1939/17288: Telegram

The Chargé in Italy (Wadsworth) to the Secretary of State

Rome, December 11, 1941.
[Received December 11—8:51 a.m.]

1940. Count Ciano8 sent for me at 2:30 this afternoon, and immediately upon my being shown into his office, by the Chief of Ceremoniale, he rose from his desk and in all formality spoke a single [Page 590] sentence substantially as follows: “I have sent for you to tell you in the name of my King and in that of the Italian Government that as of today Italy considers itself at war with the United States.”9

Wadsworth
  1. Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs.↩
  2. No message notifying the Department that Italy had declared war against the United States was ever delivered by the Italian Ambassador in Washington. For account of the Italian Ambassador’s being informed by the Department that a state of war existed between the United States and Italy, see Department of State Bulletin, December 13, 1941, p. 482.↩