860j.01/14: Telegram

The Commission to Negotiate Peace to the Acting Secretary of State

2982. American Mission’s 2961, July 3. Following telegram sent to President is repeated for your information and for communication to Charles E. Hughes Committee if you see fit.

“July 5, 10 p.m. After receiving General Harbord’s views, and discussion with the Peace Mission, we have concluded that the temporary measures necessary to strengthen relief and administration in Armenia would [should] be separated from the problems involved in repatriation and expulsion of present trespassers, and permanent pacification of the territory. We have therefore recommended the appointment of Colonel William N. Haskell, at present in charge of relief measures in Roumania, to be a temporary commissioner as proposed by us to you and accepted in principle by the [Page 827] heads of state, and we trust he will not be recalled by the War Department. The broader question of repatriation, etc., requires an examination as to the measures and force necessary successfully to cope with the problem and will require congressional action to grant sufficient funds and forces. We therefore recommend that a mission should immediately be sent to Armenia headed by General Harbord who should choose his own assistants to investigate this question together with the general political and economic problems involved in setting up the new state of Armenia. Such investigation as a basis of determination of policy is, in our minds, necessary before even the repatriation of refugees can be begun. We believe General Harbord could be persuaded to undertake such a mission. Hoover. Morgenthau. We endorse the recommendations made in the above telegram. American Mission”.

American Mission