840.48 Refugees/4034½
The Secretary of State to the President 1
My Dear Mr. President: I recently had occasion to direct your attention to the refugee situation in connection with the recommendations of the Bermuda Conference which proposed a meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee to carry on the work.2
As my mind approaches the subject matter to be discussed and the questions to be decided by the Committee which it is now proposed to start in London and to continue in Washington, certain doubts assert themselves.
A meeting of that character would attract world-wide attention. It could not be allowed to fail. Unless the American and British Governments were determined in advance as to the purposes which they would pursue and as to the extent to which they would commit [Page 337] themselves on financial accounts, the Conference could not come to any satisfactory conclusions.
Attached is a telegram directed to London which was prepared after the receipt of your recent memorandum on this matter.3 The Department has been in telegraphic correspondence with the British Foreign Office and has discussed the matter on several occasions with Mr. Law, Parliamentary Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs, now in the United States. Before proceeding further with it the thought occurs to me that its extreme importance from the psychological point of view would probably justify consultation by you with Mr. Churchill.
1. Expressed concretely, refugees who may need attention and protection are found in the following places in the following approximate number:
| Iran | 19,000 |
| Cyprus | 4,650 |
| Spain | 20,000 |
| Bulgaria | 4,500 |
| France | 10,000 |
| Switzerland | 13,500 |
| Portugal | 1,400 |
| Total | 73,050 |
2. It is impractical to estimate accurately the cost of transfer by vessel and maintenance of the individual on a yearly basis, but considering the short haul to some part of Africa, a figure of $2,000 per capita per annum is considered not unreasonable. The moving of all these 73,000 on that basis would cost $150,000,000. The estimate should include repatriation at the end of the war.
3. The determination is to be made whether it would be possible to limit the Intergovernmental Committee’s participation in the plan for the succor and transit of the refugees to a place of temporary refuge where Governor Lehman’s relief organization could take up the relief activities during their temporary residence, provided there is legal authority under existing legislation to permit it and provided further that the British join on equal terms.
If you could present this matter to the consideration of Mr. Churchill and arrive at some common decision with him as to what extent our respective Governments could be committed at the suggested Intergovernmental Committee meeting it would seem to be justifiable to proceed with that meeting, with the assurance of achieving some [Page 338] success. Lacking an understanding of the attitudes of our respective Governments it would seem that the Conference could not accomplish a very useful purpose.
Those persons who have escaped from German control or who may escape in the future can be forwarded to places of temporary refuge till the successful ending of the war will assure them the right to return to their homes.
I am attaching a telegram which I would propose to send to London in case it is justified by the conclusions you will reach with the Prime Minister.4
Respectfully,
- The source text is endorsed “CH OK FDR” in Roosevelt’s handwriting. It was returned to Hull from the White House under cover of the following memorandum, dated June 11, 1943, from Roosevelt: “Will you bring this up to date? I have heard nothing from Winston. Churchill who said he would let me know and has done nothing further. I think it is just as well to send this as is. If you approve, go ahead. F.D.R.” No record of any discussion between Roosevelt and Churchill regarding this paper or any other phase of the refugee problem has been found. Such a discussion was referred to in the memorandum of conversation by Assistant Secretary of State Long, dated June 4, 1943, the memorandum, of conversation by Hull, dated June 17, 1943, the memorandum of conversation by Welles, dated June 24, 1943, the memorandum from Long to Hull, dated June 29, 1943, and the telegram from Churchill to Roosevelt, dated June 30, 1943, Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. i, pp. 309, 313, 319, and 321, respectively. These references indicate some discrepancy of views as to what Roosevelt, and Churchill had actually discussed. In this connection, a memorandum of June 15, 1943, from R. Borden Reams of the Division of European Affairs to Long, not printed, reads in part as follows: “Mr. Hayter called today to state that a reply had been received from Mr. Churchill stating that he had not discussed the Intergovernmental Committee with the President. He had talked to the President about a refugee camp in North Africa.” (840.48 Refugees/4034)↩
- See the letter from Hull to Roosevelt, May 7, 1943, Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. i, p. 176. For documentation regarding the Bermuda Conference on Refugees of April 1943, see ibid., pp. 134 ff.↩
- Roosevelt’s memorandum of May 14, 1943, to Hull is printed in Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. i, p. 179; telegram 3128, May 15, 1943, to London is printed ibid., p. 180.↩
- The draft telegram has not been found. For final text see telegram 3879, June 25, 1943, to London, Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. i, p. 190.↩