Evening star., 1948-02-13

provided Italy refrained from going
to war against Britain and France.
These various suggestions were
to be made by the President acting
or his own behalf and not as an
agent of the Allies.
The President agreed without
much dif1iculty to this approach. He
did say, however. that. rather than
act at the instance of the British
and the French. he preferred to
pursue the next logical step In his
previous correspondence with Mus
solini on the same general subject,
which he had conducted on his own
initiative and without any request
from any government.
Message Sent May 26.
The Presidents message, which
we drafted at the State Department,
went forward in a cable from me to
Ambassador Phillips on May 2s.
Now Mussolini had before him
definite proposal whereby he could
have obtained any reasonable de-
mands without recourse to war, with
the United States guaranteeing that
Britain and France would live up
to their agreement.
But the following day Phillips
cabled me Mussolini's mol" Ciano
said to him that Mussolini's inten-
tion was not merely to realize the
legitimate aspirations of Italy but
also to fulfill his obligations under
the alliance with Germany.
The President, undaunted by the
fact that each time Mussolini re-
piled his tone became more hostile,
wanted still further appeal to go
forward to the Italian dictator. We
accordingly worked on it and cabled
it to Phillips on May 80.
This time the President said that
q further extension Of the war as
a result of italian participation
would at once result in an increase
in the rearmament program Of the
United States itself and in re-
doubling of the efforts Of the Gov
ernment of the United States to fa-
cilitate in every practical way the
securing within the United States
oy the Allied powers of all the sup
plies and materiel which they may
require" The, President reminded
Mussolini of our historic interests
in the Mediterranean which we had
upheld for nearly $50 years.
Mussolinis reply was even more
definite and hostile than before.
Phillips cabled the President and
me on May 81 Ciano's statement
that Mussolini had made his deci-
sion to enter the war and it was
now only a question Of short time
"a matter Of days.
The following day Phillips cabled
me Mussolini's own statement that
he desired to fulfill his engagements
with Germany and preferred not to
receive "any further pressure" since
this would only stiffen his atti-
tude."
At this point France made a d.
rect offer to Mussolini to settle
Italy's territorial claims. He had
decided to make war on France
and there would be no reply to the
French note.
New Appeal Prepared.
The President and Welles now en-
tertained the idea Of making a still
further appeal to Mussolini, using
the French offer as springboard.
A draft of the message was pre-
pared in the State Department.
But by now I had had more than
enough of such appeals to a BAN
dit who was determined on war to
satisfy his own vanity and wish
for glory. I very definitely opposed
sending the message. My objections
held, and this message, which was
ready on June 7, was not sent.
It was no surprise to any Of us
when Mussolini declared war
against Britain and France on
June TO-
That night the President spoke at
the University of Virginia, Char
Va. He said:
ION this 10th day of June 1910,
the hand that held the dagger has
struck 1t into the back Of Its neigh
bor."
This phrase was contained in the
draft we had worked on In the State
Department. Welles suggested to
the President that it come out, on
the grounds that 1t would so preju-
dice Mussolini against him that It
would be impossible to obtain his
cooperation when the time came to
make peace.
Actually the idea of the stab In
the back had been expressed by
Premier Reynaud as early as May
20 and occurred several times in
cables from Bullitt. The President
removed the phrase from his text,
but enroute to Charlottesville
changed his mind and reinserted 1t.
(cepyrisht. 194s. by North American
Newspaper Alliance)