393.115/10–149
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
China Blockade
The President brought up of his own initiative the question of the handling of the Isbrandtsen Line vessels by the Nationalist Government, and indicated strongly, as he has previously indicated, that he wished the blockade to be effective and that he desired the Department to do nothing to be of assistance to these vessels. I informed him this was the position we were taking, with the exception that we were warning the Nationalist Government not to bomb vessels from the air when they carried American citizens. The President stressed again the fact that his policy was to permit the blockade to work effectively, to which policy he expected strict adherence.