Tehran, 2 December 1943
For Mr. Early from Mr. Hopkins
Text of Tehran Communiqué will be released for publication 1300 hours Washington Time, 2000 hours Moscow Time, December 6. Details of release will be sent later. Please send report concerning treatment of Chinese communiqué including any violations release date or unauthorized premature publication facts concerning Cairo or Tehran Conferences and your suggestions.
Washington, 2 December 1943
From Mr. Early to Mr. Hopkins.
Supplementing White 74, also acknowledging your Black fifty. Reuters’ treatment Cairo story provoked bitter resentment by American newspapers. Protests have been sent to Bracken and according to press reports today Reuters premature release was subject of heated debate in House of Commons today. Bracken disclaimed responsibility. However, the Reuters story, circulated generally elsewhere some 33 hours ahead of official release, was not permitted by British censors to be published in England.
I am receiving protests, including one from Roy Roberts. Ever since your departure we have pleaded with British censorship and government for greater security. Reuters action seems most reprehensible to us. Their reports gave away practically the entire Cairo story except actual text of communiqué. The text was about all they did not publish in advance of communiqué. Washington correspondents are disposed to place the responsibility for Reuters’ actions on the British, not on us. They appreciate we did everything possible to protect story.
They are making on their own responsibility formal protest to Halifax here.
Our press, of course, published Reuters’ reports but carefully refrained from publishing anything else although they had received fullest advices from their own correspondents. None of the latter was published until the release hour fixed by Cairo. As Roy Roberts protests:
The release by Reuters destroyed much of the effect of what should have been one of the epochal highspots of the war.
Press here received today from London following, “Ankara reported Stalin Roosevelt arrived Tehran.” To date except for speculative pieces that Roosevelt moved from Cairo to meet Stalin presumably in Tehran, nothing important has been published yet about Tehran conference.
Only suggestions I have to make were included in previous dispatch. However, I urgently repeat that those suggestions be enforced. I repeat that despite Reuters’ actions, the Cairo conference reaction most favorably received by people of this country and the morale effect of the three power pledges is evident everywhere.
Regards to all.
EARLY
Ankara, December 2, 1943 – 2 p.m.
Secret
The President of Turkey, Mr. Inonu, has agreed to go with the Foreign Minister to Cairo:
On condition that as between equals he is being invited to a free discussion and is not merely to be informed of decisions already arrived at in Tehran concerning Turkey.
The British Ambassador to Turkey, Knatchbull-Hugessen, has telegraphed for authority to give Inonu the assurance he desires. It will be possible if the necessary authority is received before the morning of Friday December 3 for us to arrive in Adana by train on the morning of December 4 and to be in Cairo about 1 p.m. on the same day by special planes sent for us. At the moment, as near as I can estimate, the entire party will consist of about thirty people.
All is going along well.
Cairo, December 2, 1943
Secret
Will you tell Inonu at once that I am delighted that he can come to see me? Assure him that he is being invited to a “free discussion as between equals.” Please tell the President that I am especially happy to have the occasion to talk with him. Will you tell him that transport planes will be available Adana on the morning of December 4? For your information British are advising their Ambassador in similar sense. Will you be sure to have an adequate American Interpreter with you?
Cairo, December 2, 1943
Secret
Triple priority
President has wired Steinhardt today to the effect that he is delighted Inonu can come to Cairo and to assure Inonu that he is being invited to a “free discussion as between equals.” Steinhardt also directed inform Inonu that President especially happy to have the occasion to talk with him and that transport planes will be available Adana morning December fourth.
Will you see Molotov at once to make certain that Russian representatives are here morning December fourth? We understand that Soviet Ambassador Ankara is coming. Please advise.
HOPKINS
| Present | ||
|---|---|---|
| United States | United Kingdom | |
| President Roosevelt | Prime Minister Churchill | |
| Mr. Hopkins | Captain Randolph Churchill | |
| Admiral Leahy | Section Officer Oliver | |
| Major Boettiger |
Admiral Leahy’s summary:
During the dinner Roosevelt and Churchill compared their reactions to Stalin and reviewed the military and political discussion with our Russian ally that had just ended. The Prime Minister clearly indicated that he was inclined toward the American point of view on matters that up to then had produced much controversy between the U.S. and British staffs, particularly on the timing of the cross-Channel attack on Germany.
U.S. Navy Department (November 2, 1943)
Central Pacific.
The USS LISCOME BAY (CVE-56) was sunk as the result of being torpedoed by a submarine on November 24, 1943, in the Gilbert Islands area. This is the only ship lost in the Gilbert Islands operation.
The next of kin of casualties aboard the LISCOME BAY will be notified as soon as possible.
The U.S. submarine WAHOO (SS-238) is overdue and must be presumed to be lost.
The next of kin of personnel in the WAHOO have been so informed.
For Immediate Release
December 2, 1943
Our aircraft continue raid and search operations in the Marshalls.
On the morning of November 30 (West Longitude Date), Seventh AAF Liberators which bombed the Taroa airdrome were intercepted by 35 Zeros. Seven or more Zeros were shot down, at least four others were damaged. All of our planes returned, but several were damaged. Two men were injured.
A Navy Liberator of Fleet Air Wing Two which was attacked by six Zeros near Mille on November 30 while on a search mission shot down one Zero, probably destroyed another and probably damaged two others.
On the evening of November 29, two of our destroyers in the Gilberts area repelled a prolonged attack by enemy torpedo planes. Three enemy planes were destroyed, two others were probably shot down. Neither destroyer was damaged.
The Pittsburgh Press (December 2, 1943)
Joseph Stalin, President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were reported drafting the obituary of Nazi Germany in Tehran today in a conference paralleling that in Cairo where plans were agreed upon for stripping Japan of her empire and forcing her unconditional surrender.
Unofficial reports circulated that the leaders of Russia, the United States and Great Britain were framing an ultimatum to Germany demanding immediate capitulation on pain of progressively severe terms.
Congressional quarters in Washington accepted as completely factual the reports that Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill had proceeded to Tehran to meet Stalin after their meeting in Cairo with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of China.
A subsidiary conference in Cairo on Mediterranean strategy under Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower gave rise to reports of plans for a new invasion of Southern Europe, perhaps in the Balkans.
By Edward W. Beattie, United Press staff writer
London, England –
President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin were reported conferring in Tehran today and observers believed they were mapping a post-war program to “quarantine” Germany and saddle her manpower, raw materials and production for rebuilding stricken Europe.
Through such a program, observers were convinced, the “Big Three” Allied Western powers plan to punish Germany and smash her ability to make future wars as completely as Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek plotted the crushing of Japan in Cairo.
No confirmation
There was no official confirmation of the whereabouts of Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill since their departure from Cairo for an “unknown destination” following the Anglo-American-Chinese Conference, but a dispatch in a Lisbon newspaper reported they had already begun conversations with Premier Stalin in Tehran, capital of Iran. The Ankara radio also said that Stalin and Mr. Roosevelt were in Tehran.
Laurence Steinhardt, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, was also reported by Lisbon to have flown to Tehran. There has been widespread speculation that the Allies may prevail upon Turkey to grant them bases for an Anglo-American invasion to liberate the Balkans in conjunction with a Soviet drive from southern Ukraine.
If later developments confirm Stalin’s presence at a conference with Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill, it will be the first time in 31 years that the Soviet leader has left the borders of Russia.
Terms for Nazis
“Second-front” considerations were expected to play little part in any Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin meeting, since it can be assumed that Anglo-American plans for an invasion of Western Europe at the earliest possible moment are already well advanced.
The three heads of state will probably fix the approximate terms for Germany’s unconditional surrender and post-war treatment so that the Allies will not be caught without adequate plans in the event of Germany’s sudden and unexpected collapse from within, as they were when Italy surrendered.
The conferees may frame an ultimatum demanding Germany’s immediate capitulation on pain of increasingly severe terms if the Germans persist in their policy of scorched-earth retreats.
Plans for new war?
The German plan appears to be to denude occupied Europe of all its able-bodied manpower by murder, maiming and sterilization to delay its recovery and give Germany a head start in preparations for a new world war 10-15 years hence.
To speed the rehabilitation of occupied countries and at the same time prevent Germany from preparing for another war, Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Churchill and Premier Stalin were expected to seek to “quarantine” the Reich by a strict system of controls that will occupy all her manpower, materials and production in repairing the destruction the Germans have wrought.
By Henry T. Gorrell, United Press staff writer
Allies to wrest spoils of war from Japan
Chiangs back home after long flight
Chungking, China –
Generalissimo and Mme. Chiang Kai-shek have returned from the Cairo Conference in a 42-hour flight of two long hops, it was announced officially today.The Chiangs flew from Cairo to Karachi in 18 hours and on to Chungking, stopping only an hour in Karachi for refueling.
Cairo, Egypt –
The broad outline of a program to strip Japan of the vast empire she has acquired since 1895 and force her unconditional surrender was believed today to have emerged from an historic conference among President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
Though the full force of the multi-sided Allied offensive will probably not hit Japan until after the defeat of Germany, there was every indication that the signal has been given for the preliminary moves that will lead to the crushing for all time of Japanese military power.
Military moves mapped
The presence at the tri-power conference of Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten, newly-appointed Supreme Commander for Southeast Asia, and Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, American commander in the China-Burma-India Theater, along with the British and U.S. Chiefs of Staff and high Chinese officers, pointed to the mapping of strategy for future military moves.
The conclusion of the five-day meeting, at which the Pacific counterpart of the Atlantic Charter was drafted, was announced early today after the three principals had departed for parts unknown. The locale of the conference was given only as “somewhere in North Africa.”
A communiqué, heralding a future offensive to beat the Japs to their knees, said:
The three great Allies expressed their resolve to bring unrelenting pressure against their brutal enemies by sea, land and air.
Early drive foreseen
Observers believe the conference presaged imminent, closely-coordinated drives designed to divide the Jap fleet and shatter the shaky supply lines which maintain the outposts of the enemy empire.
In Washington, Secretary of War Stimson said at his press conference today that the news from the North African meeting was highly encouraging, and that military measures had been agreed upon which would be disclosed in future operations. He said, however, that present operations against the Japs disclose that the fight in the Pacific Theater will be long and costly, though victory is certain.
The President, Mr. Churchill and the Generalissimo opened their meeting Nov. 22. They were flanked by the top men of the U.S., British and Chinese Armed Forces.
Objectives outlined
For five days, the galaxy of Allied chieftains conferred and then an announcement set forth the objectives of the Allies:
It is their purpose that Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the First World War in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China.
Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed. The aforesaid three great powers, mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea, are determined that in due course Korea shall become free and independent.
To achieve these ends, the A-B-C combination mapped the ways and means of defeating Japan.
Mme. Chiang present
Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill promised Chiang to throw into the war against Japan all their resources consistent with their determination to defeat Germany as soon as possible.
Though ill, Mme. Chiang flew thousands of miles to attend the conference with her husband.
The list of participants in the intense round of conferences, consultations, luncheons and dinners comprised a military who’s-who of the United States, Britain and China, with such notable exceptions as Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, who are already directing offensives against Japan.
Diplomats, too
Diplomatic as well as military talent was abundant. W. Averell Harriman and Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, U.S. and British Ambassadors to Russia, came to Africa for the meeting. So did U.S. Ambassador to Britain John G. Winant and British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden.
After the three-power meeting, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower presided over a lengthy conference confined to the Mediterranean Theater, where he is the Allied commander.
Concerning the North African conference, it was announced:
Allied military leaders decided on future military operations against Japan.
The United States, Britain and China will bring unrelenting pressure on their “brutal enemies” by land, sea and air.
The Allies, fighting to restrain and punish Jap aggression, will strip Japan of its conquests, not only those in this war, but those dating back to 1895 when Formosa was taken from China.
The Allies will persevere in the “serious and prolonged operations necessary to procure the unconditional surrender of Japan.”
The conference was attended by an amazing gathering of Allied leaders. These included:
MILITARY:
POLITICAL:
Began Nov. 22
The official revelation that the conference was held was made in a communiqué that said the meetings started Nov. 22. It foretold the doom of the sprawling, blood-soaked Jap Empire in a grim and almost contemptuous manner and contained a hint to Germany of what was coming next for her.
The announcement said:
The three Allies, in harmony with those of the United Nations at war with Japan, will continue to persevere in the serious and prolonged operations necessary to procure the unconditional surrender of Japan.
Thus, the nation that started on its career of conquest in 1895 with the seizure of Formosa and the Pescadores, seized vast Manchuria in 1931, attacked China in 1937 and in 1941 embarked on its seizure of the Philippines, Malaya, Burma, the Dutch East Indies and the Pacific Islands, is to be whittled down to size and left possessor only of its own islands.
It was deemed significant that Lord Mountbatten, aside from the three principals, seemed a dominant figure at the conference. It was believed that not only had the Allied leaders decided on imminent closely-coordinated drives to divide the Jap fleet and cut Japan’s supply lines, but that there might soon be a great thrust against the Malay Peninsula.
Berne, Switzerland –
In those circles of northern Italy loyal to the government of Pietro Badoglio, hopeful eyes are turned today toward the reported Middle Eastern conference of Allied leaders.
These circles are hoping that the meetings will serve to alter radically the Italian situation and lead to Balkan operations which would relieve Italy of the horrors of war.
With a touch of wishful thinking, these Italians are convinced that Russia will now “authorize” Balkan operations, providing the Russian Army takes an active part in them. Such troops would pass through the Dardanelles – with the sanction of Turkey.
London, England (UP) –
President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and their military advisers probably completed in North Africa broad plans for an Allied advance into Burma to reopen the best land route to China, well-informed military observers said today.
The presence at the conference of Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander for Southeast Asia, and Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, American commander in China, Burma and India, was taken as an indication that the next step in the long-range campaign to smash Japan will be an offensive to reopen the Burma Road.
Only through opening that backdoor to China can sufficient men, armor and supplies be moved into the country to recapture the “Bomb Tokyo” airfields of eastern China and mount an all-out air and possibly an eventual land offensive against the Jap home islands.
By the United Press
Enemy propaganda took the line today that the meetings of Allied leaders had a twofold purpose – to start a new offensive in the “nerve war” and to cover up alleged defeats in the Pacific.
The vague guesses broadcast by Berlin and Tokyo radios dwelt largely on the theme that the Allies now found it necessary to make other plans in view of setbacks.
Tokyo argued the meetings resulted from the big naval victories Japan claims to have won in the Pacific.
8th Army rolls on in march toward Rome; Americans repulse counterattacks
By C. R. Cunningham, United Press staff writer
…
Escort craft only ship lost in conquest of isles, Navy says
…
As many Yanks die in hectic 76-hour battle as died in six months on guadalcanal
…
Scheme officially called ‘A Bill to Encourage Voluntary Contributions to Treasury of U.S.’
By Robert Taylor, Press Washington correspondent
…
Japs plan ‘last stand’ on Corregidor too, repatriate says
By Bernard Covit
…
Notice served Japs that Allies control route toward Rabaul
By Brydon Taves, United Press staff writer
…
Lull in RAF’s large-scale operations continues for fifth night
…
Cairo, Egypt (UP) –
President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek held their historic conference in an armed camp.
The conference headquarters was described as “a complete defense unit.” Within its barbed-wire perimeter were air-raid shelters, slit trenches, ack-ack batteries, barbed-wire enclosures, military guards and fire watchers.
It was built to withstand surprise assault by land or air. It bristled with arms and mystery.
Roosevelt arrives
Only the conferees and their guards were allowed inside. Correspondents were outside the barbed wire.
President Roosevelt motored to the scene through a lane of U.S. soldiers spaced 20 yards apart – but no one will be able to tell his grandchildren that he saw the President arrive. Everyone was facing out – back to the road – watching for any suspicious person.
Prime Minister Churchill came part of the way by warship. He requested that the officers put on no extra “spit and polish” for him and the crew wore dungarees.
Relax on Thanksgiving
It wasn’t until Thanksgiving Day that the American, British and Chinese leaders were able to sit back, after three solid days and nights of joint efforts, and have their pictures taken.
President Roosevelt waved an expansive hand toward the center chair and said to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek:
You are the guest of honor – and after all, this is your first conference.
Chiang smilingly declined the honor and took a chair on the President’s right.
‘Premature’ disclosure of parley news brings rebuke
By Joseph Laitin, United Press staff writer
Washington –
Government officials, angered by repeated premature British disclosures of Allied news involving the United States, promised today to exert every effort to ensure American newspapers and news services an even break from now on.
Reuters, a British news agency, broke the news of the three-power Cairo Conference Tuesday morning, about 33 hours ahead of the official release time. Officials charged this was in violation of an Allied agreement not to publish the news until 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night to protect the safety of the conferees.
Held in confidence
American editors, it was pointed out, had the official communiqué on their desks and were holding it in confidence at the time the Reuters dispatch was circulated.
Rep. Frank Carlson (R-KS) today told the House that Congress should investigate the “slipshod and bungling manner” in which the conference was announced.
He added:
This is not the first time. What about the Tokyo raid? What about the Patton incident?
Rep. Clare Hoffman (R-MI) asserted that the people of the United States are being neglected because “the President of the United States wants to be President of the world.”
Defended by Democrat
Democratic Leader Rep. John W. McCormack (D-MA) replied that the President is a “strong and courageous” man now “abroad in line of duty.”
McCormack said:
In future generations when the country faces such a crisis, I hope we have another man as strong and courageous, and I don’t care whether he’s Republican or Democrat – Protestant, Catholic or Jew.
Director Elmer Davis of the Office of War Information placed partial blame on British censorship which allowed the Reuters story to be sent out from London although it did forbid its publication in the British Isles.
Price pledges aid
Director Byron Price of the U.S. Office of Censorship said he would back Mr. Davis to the hilt. Asserting that “the circumstances speak for themselves,” Mr. Price said that:
Censorship is doing all it can and is anxious to see American newspapers and radio stations get at least an even break on such stories in the future.
Mr. Davis sarcastically rejected Reuters’ explanation that the “scoop” was the result of enterprise by its Lisbon bureau chief.
He said it was a kind of “enterprise” that any American news editor could have “indulged” in if he so desired, considering that the official communiqué was available to editors at the time.
Bayonne, New Jersey (UP) –
The Bayonne Times published the official announcement of President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek yesterday, in advance of the official release time, explaining that “the people of the United States are as fully entitled to news as any other country in the world.”
The story was headlined:
Everyone In the World Except U.S. Knows FDR, Churchill, Chiang Meet
The Times said:
This release has been violated not alone by foreign and domestic news agencies, by various diverse means, but by the Office of War Information itself, which has kept the news from the American people but has broadcast it to foreign lands. We prefer to do this openly instead of publishing rumor stories credited to the usual “well-informed circles.”
Sydney, Australia (UP) –
The Daily Mirror yesterday published a full report of the Cairo Conference – 23 hours before the official release date. The story was withdrawn from later editions, the newspaper explaining that it had made a mistake.
