The President                        
 
                           July 5, 1943                     
 
                                                            
 
 
If a meeting of three were held reasonably soon after your 
      first meeting alone, he recognizes, I believe, the logic of the 
      historic sequence of the two tete-a-tete meetings culminating 
                 in the third with three present.           
 
                                                            
 
 
Should Germany not attack this summer, there is much in the 
      Prime Minister's argument of the need for a closer military understanding 
      between the Chiefs of Staff of the three countries. The question 
      is whether much would come of a large meeting of the Staffs now 
      unless you had first created a foundation of understanding which 
      I am satisfied would come from the type of meeting you have in 
      mind. In fact I am not all sure that you would not be able personally 
      to accomplish more toward an immediate military understanding 
      in the meeting you propose than would be accomplished by the 
                   larger meeting he proposes.              
 
                                                            
 
 
I explained to the Prime Minister the first night that there 
      was no need for hurry in his reply, but he prepared a cable to 
      you the next day, discussed it with Eden, and called me over 
      to Number 10 (Annex) at one o'clock the following evening. I 
      think he expected another argument from me and he seemed relieved 
      when my only comment was that I thought his cable, although I 
      did not agree with his reasoning, fairly