Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, The Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943

Roosevelt Papers: Telegram

President Roosevelt to Marshal Stalin¹

[Cairo,] 6 December 1943.

Personal and secret from the President to Marshal Stalin.

The immediate appointment of General Eisenhower to the Command of Overlord has been decided upon.²

Roosevelt

1. Sent to the White House Map Room, via military channels, and forwarded by the Map Room to Moscow in paraphrase, via Navy channels. The source text is the message as received at the Map Room. The original, in Marshall’s handwriting and with Roosevelt’s signature, was later sent to Eisenhower and is reproduced in his Crusade in Europe (New York: Doubleday and Co., 1948), p. 208. It reads “command of Overlord operation” where this text reads “the Command of Overlord”.
2. See ante, p. 542. For Stalin’s acknowledgment, dated December 10, 1943, see Stalin’s Correspondence, vol. ii, p. 114.