Office of the Historian

800.796/8–1644

The First Secretary of the British Embassy (Gore-Booth) to the Chief of the Aviation Division (Morgan)

Washington, August 16, 1944.

Dear Stokeley: With reference to our telephone conversation this afternoon I now have pleasure in sending you a paraphrase of the Foreign Office telegram from London about the attitude of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom to the suggestion that [Page 530] the United States Government should go ahead with bilateral negotiations for landing rights for United States civil aircraft, along the routes proposed by the Civil Aeronautics Board.

Yours ever,

Paul Gore-Booth
[Enclosure]

Paraphrase of a Telegram Received From London, Dated August 16, 1944

Please inform State Department that it is wrong to suppose that Lord Beaverbrook assured Mr. Berle that His Majesty’s Government would have no objection to the United States Government going ahead with bilateral negotiations for landing rights along Civil Aeronautics Board projected air routes.

2.
On August 3rd Mr. Berle and his colleagues including Mr. Morgan saw Lord Beaverbrook and his colleagues in Washington, and informed them that it would be necessary for him to take action to satisfy the pressure both of United States public opinion generally, and more particularly of those interested in utilising air transport in the near future. Mr. Berle explained that owing to the combined pressure of traffic considerations, public opinion and political considerations, the United States Government would be moving into Spain, and then out on to the other trunk air routes throughout the world, when facilities can be provided. Lord Beaverbrook told Mr. Berle that he would so inform the Civil Air Transport Committee of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom.
3.
On August 11th Lord Beaverbrook communicated with Mr. Berle by telephone in Massachusetts. He informed Mr. Berle of the contents of the telegram which he was despatching to London for the Civil Air Transport Committee, and which contained substantially the information in the preceding paragraph of this message. Mr. Berle expressed his approval of the action proposed by Lord Beaverbrook.
4.
On August 12th Mr. Gore-Booth told Mr. Masefield that the State Department were pressing to start negotiations and were asking for Lord Beaverbrook’s consent. Mr. Masefield informed him that Lord Beaverbrook had given no assurance, and that no answer could be given on the point until the Civil Air Transport Committee had considered the matter.
5.
On August 28th the Civil Air Transport Committee will consider the information now in its possession. The delay in meeting is due to the impossibility of the Cabinet Ministers concerned meeting together before that date.
6.
Lord Beaverbrook has returned to London for the purpose of attending this meeting, and he informed Mr. Berle of this fact.
7.
In his conversation with Mr. Berle on August 3rd Lord Beaverbrook told him that we made no objection to United States activity in Spain on a non-exclusive basis, but that he would have to consult his colleagues on the broader issue. Mr. Berle thus could have been under no misapprehension about the position.