859A.20/335
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Cumming)
Mr. Barclay9 telephoned me this morning and said that the British Foreign Office had informed the Embassy by telegraph that the Icelandic Government had given the British Minister in Reykjavik an aide-mémoire similar to the aide-mémoire given the American Minister which was the subject of Minister Morris’ telegram no. 420, August 9, 4 p.m.10 The two memoranda referred to the withdrawal from Iceland of British and Norwegian troops now there.
Mr. Barclay said that the British Foreign Office telegram informed the Embassy that the questions posed by the Icelandic Government had been referred to the British Joint Chiefs of Staff for an expression of opinion. The Foreign Office telegram also expressed the hope that the State Department would make no reply to the Icelandic inquiry until the British Government had had an opportunity to present its views.
I told Mr. Barclay that since the question had military aspects, we were also contemplating putting the question to the United States [Page 310] Joint Chiefs of Staff and that accordingly I felt sure that no reply would be sent to Iceland until the British Government had had an opportunity to present its views.