800.796/8–944
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Aviation Division (Morgan)
Mr. Gore-Booth called on Tuesday, August 8th just for a chat. I took advantage of this opportunity to carry out Mr. Berle’s instructions to check with the British before finally sending out our circular instruction on landing rights. I asked Mr. Gore-Booth if anything had been heard from London and said that before carrying out the program which had been cleared between Mr. Berle and Lord Beaverbrook I wanted to make certain that there was no misunderstanding, although I felt sure that Lord Beaverbrook had expressed his approval. Mr. Gore-Booth said that he did not know that anything had been received from London and could not say that there was no question for further discussion or that it was thoroughly understood that the British Government approved of the plan. He [Page 527] said he would like to check with Lord Beaverbrook or his staff and communicate with me further.
On Wednesday, August 9th, Mr. Gore-Booth called and said that he had talked with Peter Masefield and the situation was as follows: That Mr. Berle had the personal agreement of Lord Beaverbrook to the plan but that this did not constitute agreement or approval by the British Government. He had no reason to think that there would be any objection raised but he thought it should be clearly understood that their approval had not been expressed, in fact that no views had been expressed on the part of the Government.
I said I assumed that Lord Beaverbrook had reported the conference to London, and in the absence of any comment from there was I safe in assuming that there was no objection? Mr. Gore-Booth said that he could not go so far as to give such an assurance. He was not certain, in fact he rather doubted, that Lord Beaverbrook had made any report to London. He said that, of course, we were at liberty to go ahead on Lord Beaverbrook’s personal statement if we felt that was conclusive, but he could not say that he thought it was. I said that we wished to be certain that there was no possibility of any misunderstanding.
Mr. Gore-Booth then suggested that he would send a cable to London immediately to try to clarify the situation. I pointed out that we had already waited a week since the conference with Lord Beaverbrook and so I hoped that the final go-ahead signal could be received promptly.