Text Version


-2-
 
had sent me to Europe in order to ascertain whether there was still any hope that a basis for the 
 
negotiation of a peace of the right kind could be found.
 
          I said that in the few days I had been in Europe I had reached the conclusion that if an 
 
offensive were undertaken this Spring, and if a so-called "real war" broke out, there would not be 
 
the slightest possibility for some time to come of any peace through negotiation.  I said I believed 
 
that the kind of war which would be waged would be such as not only to result in the destruction 
 
of the material resources of the nations involved, but also to result in the unloosing of human 
 
passions to such a degree as to bring with it a breakdown of most of the spiritual, social, and 
 
economic factors in the fabric of our modern civilization. It was clear to the Prime Minister, I 
 
said, that the Government of the United States realized that such a state of affairs as that which I
 
had mentioned would inevitably have most intimate repercussions upon the social, political, 
 
financial and economic life of all of the neutral Powers, and particularly of the United States.
 
          I said that I would be particularly grateful for the views which M. Daladier might express 
 
to me as to the possibilitles for the negotiation now of a just and lasting peace, and that the views 
 
which he would give me would be entirely confidential and solely for communication to the 
 
President and Secretary Hull.
 
          I said that he would recognize that for this very reason I was not in a position to comment 
 
upon, or to disclose, any of the views which had been communicated to
View Original View Previous Page View Next Page Return to Folder IndexReturn to Box Index