Evening star., 1948-02-25
.ordeII Hull
By Cordial Hull
tAssistsd BY Andssw Bssdiss,
CUAPTER YYVII.

tAsaisisi By Andrew Bssdiss,
CHAPTER XVII.
At about the time Of the Quebec
Conference (August, ls43), . por-
tion Of the Soviet press, suddenly
put forth the idea that, although .
meeting Of the chiefs Of the Amer
lean, British and Russian govern
ments was impossible because Of
Stalin,s preoccupation with direct
ing the stupendous battle In the
east against Germany, meeting Of
the foreign ministers could well and
frlitfully be held.
The President and Churchill both
took up this suggestion concurrently
and asked Stain whather hs shared
the opinion that . meeting Of the
foreign ministers Of the three pow
ers In the near future would be ex-
pedient. Stain replied to both ON
August ~ stating that he was In
accord. He added that the meeting
should not be Of . narrow explora-
tory character but practical prep
aration leading to definite decisions
by the three governments. He sug-
gested that the range OF questions
to be discussed should bs deter
mined In advance.
Following exchanges Of views with
Churchill, the President sent Stain
. further message on September 8,
in which he said that both Churchill
and he were pleased with the idea
Of q political and military meeting
on the foreign minister level. Al
though the Prime Minister had sus-
gested London or another city In
England Is the meeting place, the
President said he thought . more
remote spot would be better. He
mentioned Casablanca or Tunis, or
even Sicily. He said he wanted to
send me to the meeting but he
did not want me to undertake 70
long . journey. hence he would
send Undersecretafy Welles.
Two days later Stain suggested
Moscow rs the place and the be-
ginning Of October as the time, and
on September II the President
agreed.
At this time Welles was still In,
Maine, and I had reliable informa-
ton that he was writing numerous
letters to friends In Warrington
that he had been the victim Of ILL
treatment.
After . certain amount OF this had
accumulated. went to the Presi-
dent. I recalled to him that he and
I had agreed to Welles making the
trip to Moscow rs the best means Of
getting him out Of the department
without public sensation, but that
now conditions were different.
Welles had not seen fit to join In
with our plans but had gone OH to
Maine, whence he was writing many
persons and apparently endeavoring
to martyrize himself. I also recalled
to the President Welles' remark
when I had brought up with him our
plan to send him to Moscow, namely.
that nothing could be gotten out OF
such q trip. I said I now would op-
pose his being given recognition by
the State Department unless he re-
tracted some of the harsh critieism
to him and declared his
loyalty to the department and the
administration.
~ Welles did nothing Of the sort but
his long-distance criticiSm
Of me and the department generally.
Az the campaign went on by one or
two newspaper critics closely asso-
ciated with Welles, to the effect
that I was Russia's enemy and
wanted to see her bled white, I
then went to the President and said
I would strenuously oppose Welles'
going to Moscow.
Insisted On Making Trip.
I said to the President that,
wherever the conference might be
held-anywhere between here and
Chungking-I would be there my
self.
The President Immediately ex-
pressed his qualification that Il
would 90, and he repeated it two or
three times with emphasis. He was
also surprised. He knew I had not
been feeling well, that I was no
longer young-I was then on the
eve of 72--and that / had never
before been In an airplane.
He did not know another fact
+ suffered somewhat from claustro-
phobia. One hot night some years
before, while on = railroad sleeping
ear with the windows open, which
vas passing through = long tunnel,
awakened and became conscious
,f apparently suffocating from car
bon or other gases. I thought the.
srain had been obstructed In the
tunnel. Ever since then I had had
/, he,rar ~ hajno In era n,nAd in.