Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1939, The Far East; The Near East and Africa, Volume IV

867N.01/1542b

The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to President Roosevelt

Washington, May 11, 1939.

My Dear Mr. President: With reference to your memorandum of May 10 and the letter sent to you by Justice Brandeis under date of May 9, enclosed therewith, we have received this morning a telegram from Ambassador Kennedy⁶¹ which contains this statement: “Halifax says they are now contemplating delaying the Palestine statement scheduled for Monday and I will see MacDonald on this later tonight.”

In view of the information conveyed to us by Ambassador Kennedy, I would suggest that you merely let Justice Brandeis know that we have had this information and assure him that our point of view is placed before the British on every possible occasion by Ambassador Kennedy in accordance with the standing instructions you have given him.

Believe me

Faithfully yours,

Sumner Welles

61. No. 658, May 10, 7 p.m., not printed.