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gratitude for the many courtesies shown me, and for the privilege of being received by Mussolini 
 
and his Minister.  I then handed Mussolini the President's autograph letter. He found it difficult to 
 
read the President is writing, and asked Ciano to translate it for him. As the reading went on a 
 
smile of gratification came over Mussolini's face, and with the last sentence in which the President
 
expressed the hope of seeing him soon, he smiled openly. "I have hoped for a long time," he said, 
 
"that this meeting of which I have heard so often would really take place, but I am beginning to 
 
fear that there are too many miles of ocean between us to make it possible." I quickly interjected, 
 
"But, of course, there are half-way points, which would halve that distance". He stopped smiling,
 
and looked at me searchingly. Then he added slowly, looking at me all the time, "Yes and there 
 
are ships to take us both there." He paused a moment, and then reaching over and taking the 
 
President's letter out of Ciano's hands, said, "I will answer this letter personally."
 
     At the outset of our conversation I referred to American participation in the Exposition of 
 
1942 and to the desirability of studying the possibility of agreeing on such policies and principles 
 
as would make possible more satisfactory commercial relations between the two countries. It was 
 
evident that Ciano had already reported to him our conversation of the morning, since he referred
 
to notes he had made.
 
          Mussolini expressed great appreciation of the President's interest in the Rome Exposition. 
 
He said that while he hoped peace would be reestablished before 1942, the