740.00112A European War 1939/5355: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 23—7 p.m.]
6202. Department’s 5960, December 20, midnight [noon]. Ministry of Economic Warfare officials consulted are favorable to the Department’s proposals regarding procedure harmonizing Proclaimed and Statutory Lists for European countries. We tentatively explored certain details of required mechanics but felt number of points would have to be dealt with as they arose.
We agreed, subject to the Department’s approval, that recommendations to list or delete would continue to come from British missions to Ministry of Economic Warfare through established channels but that henceforth they would invariably include definite statements regarding American missions’ concurrence or disagreement. In latter case (only) would American missions telegraph Embassy at London their opinions. Embassy observers at Blacklist Committee meetings would have access to files including corporations and recommend to Department either concurrence British missions position or maintenance stand taken by American missions unless of course Department desires such cases settled here when practicable. We believe there will be very few cases in which attitudes of British and American missions will not be reconciled in the field.
Question arose what the American equivalent of Black as differentiated from Statutory List would be particularly in cases where recommendations specified the former. Will the Department please telegraph attitude this point.53
- In telegram No. 75, January 7, 1942, 11 p.m., to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom, the Department approved of the procedure herein outlined. With regard to this last paragraph, the Department’s attitude was stated as follows: “So far as practicable we contemplate using British Black as differentiated from Statutory List for our confidential list.” (740.00112A European War, 1939/5355)↩