Evening star., 1948-02-16
CHAPTER XIX.

summer of 1910 as Great Britain's
plight on the high seas grew acute.
British Ambassador Lord Lothian
came in to see me on August 4, and
expressed his governments urgent
desire" to purchase from us a num-
Der of older type destroyers.
During my attendance at the Ha-
vana Conference, the President had
been talking to Lothian and cabling
Prime Minister Churchill on this
subject and also on the possible ces-
sion or lease to us by Britain of some
of her bases in this Hemisphere.
The sale or loan Of the destroyers
had been broached by French Pre-
mier Reynaud on May IA, only four
days after the invasion of France,
and by Mr.. Churchill on the follow
ing day.
At that time the President op-
posed the proposal.
But all things are comparative.
When the fall Of France enormously
increased our dangers, we leaned
much more toward disposing of the
over-age destroyers, especially if
their loss to our defenses could be
compensated for In other ways, as by
our acquiring new bases.
Additional Bases Desires.
The Navy had long wanted addi-
tional bases along the Atlantic. We
also felt that, since our destroyers
would increase the strength Of the
British fleet, which stood between
the Axis desperadoes and us, this
was actually an added protection to
ourselves.
Furthermore, Congress passed an
administration bill, the National De-
fense Act of June 28, 1910, which
permitted the sale of naval equip
ment, provided the Chief Of Naval
Operations certified that it was not
essential to the national defense.
When Lothian came to my office
on August 4, I could appreciate
Britain's dangers as fully as he
could depict them. He said Britain
had lost five destroyers during the
previous week alone.
He said he had already discussed
the question with the President
while I was at Havana. He added
that Britain would be willing to
make available to us facilities for
naval and air bases in certain Brit
ish islands adjacent to Central and
South America and in Bermuda,
as well as for aircraft bases in New
foundland.
On the same day I sent the Presi-
dent a memorandum relating to
the sale of warships and auxiliary
vessels. This contained proposed
draft of a bill to be offered in Con-
gress which would specifically au-
thorize such sale.
Negotiations Begged Down.
Such was the situation when !
left Washington. During my three
weeks rest at White Sulphur Springs
had private telephone line into
my apartment there and received
daily pouches from the State De-
partment.
A few hours otter I returned to
Washington on August %, I went to
the White House to attend cabinet
meeting.
There the President said to me,
"Our negotiations with Britain on
the bases and destroyers have begged
down. Please see what you can do
In talking over the bases with the
President, found an amazing per.
sonal knowledge of almost all Of
them. He had either cruised, swan
or fished in those harbors. He
knew how many feet deep and wide
they were and how many ships they
would take.
He also knew the penurious con-
dition Of the native populations OF
most Of the islands, and consequent
ly did not want to assume the bur-
den of administering those popula-
tions. Therefore he had changed
during my absence from Washing
ton from his original idea Of OUT
right purchase Of the bases to that
of 99-year leases. I had originally
favored outright cession, but was
willing to agree to leases instead.
I thereupon undertook the nego-
tiations, determined to push them
to completion as quickly as possible
| On the following day, as I was
reviewing the negotiations to date,
the White House informed me that
the British Ambassador had an ap-