Editorial Note
No record of the discussion at this meeting has been found which was prepared by one of the participants listed above. The memorandum printed below was prepared by Harry Dexter White, who accompanied Morgenthau to Quebec. Since this memorandum does not indicate that White himself was present, it seems probable that White was summarizing what Morgenthau had told him, or told others in his presence, between September 13 and the date on which White’s memorandum was prepared. Following is the text of the memorandum, which bears the date “9/25/44” at the end (presumably the date of typing):
“Mrs. Roosevelt asked the Secretary to tea. As soon as he arrived he was ushered in to the President.1 Miss Tully was also present. (When he came in, the President turned to Fala, his dog, and said, ‘Say hello to your Uncle Henry.’)
“The President said that in his conversation with Churchill,2 Churchill had been very glum. The President said that he had asked Churchill: ‘How would you like to have the steel business of Europe for 20 or 30 years?’ The President said that Churchill seemed much excited over the possibility.
“The President said to the Secretary: ‘I have asked you to come up here so that you could talk to the Prof. [Lord Cher well].’3 He said that they were doing shipping that night and therefore were to have Admiral Land but added, ‘You might as well come too.’ The Secretary asked how freely he could talk with the Professor and the President replied, ‘You can talk about anything you want.’ The Secretary inquired: ‘Anything?’, and the President said, ‘Well, let me look at that book.’ [The book he referred to was the collection of memoranda on [Page 324] Germany prepared in the Treasury which the Secretary had given to him in Washington.4] The President went over the whole section and said, ‘I wouldn’t discuss with him the question of the zones to be occupied by our armies. That’s a military question. Nor would I discuss the question of partitioning as that’s a political question. But you can talk about the fact that we are thinking of internationalizing the Ruhr and the Saar, including the Kiel Canal. If Holland has a lot of land inundated by Germany we can give her a piece of Western Germany as compensation.’
“The President went over the whole of the first section of the book, item by item, and then said: ‘I have sent for Eden. Churchill, Eden, yourself and I will sit down to discuss the matter.’ (The Secretary expressed the view that the President gave him the impression that he was bringing Eden to Quebec largely because of the report he (the Secretary) gave him upon his return from England about Eden being tough on the question of a policy toward Germany.)5
“The President said, ‘Don’t worry about Churchill. He is going to be tough too.’ As the Secretary was leaving, the President said to Miss Tully, ‘Put that book right next to my bed. I want to read it tonight.’ [The book he referred to was the book I described above.]” (Treasury Files)
- According to the Log, ante, p. 290, Roosevelt conferred with Morgenthau “at length” after the latter’s arrival, following which Roosevelt had tea with Mrs. Roosevelt, Miss Tully, and Miss Thompson in the President’s quarters at 5 p.m.↩
- Presumably during luncheon earlier on September 13. See the editorial note, ante, p. 319.↩
- The brackets throughout this memorandum appear in the source text.↩
- Ante, p. 128.↩
- Cf. Blum, pp. 338, 342.↩