340.1115A/2320
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Long)
The Italian Ambassador came in today at his request. He reverted to the subject of conversation of the exchange of civilians, of which there are some thousand or more Italians interned or in confinement as a result of prosecution for sabotage. He presented the idea that we might proceed to exchange Americans and Italians without waiting for the completion of the program. He said that his Government asked that three points be presented for our consideration concerning the Italians arrested for sabotage—first, that their prosecution and conviction was not justified; second, it was doing no good to hold them in confinement; and third, that there were no Americans in Italy held on similar grounds.
I advised the Ambassador that the points of his Government were good talking points, but they had no justification in reason and that under our laws they could not be considered.
I further advised him that the German Government had not accepted even in principle the proposal I had made to the Chargé d’Affaires of Germany the same day I made the original proposal to the Italian Ambassador and until we heard from Germany there was no further step which could be taken.
It did not seem to be entirely clear in his mind that it was a four-party agreement that was sought and that it was necessary to get the agreement of all four parties in order to place the prospective agreement in operation. I explained to him the situation and he now understands it, though it was my impression that he understood it thoroughly at the first presentation.