113
Press Releases, vol. XIX, p, 223
Press Release Issued by the Department
of State On 27 September 27, 1938
At 3 p. m. on the afternoon of September 27,
1938, the Secretary of State sent the following instruction to all American
diplomatic missions accredited to governments from which this Government had
not already received messages or which had not already taken action:
"Please call without delay on the
Minister of Foreign Affairs or in his absence on the appropriate official, and
express the opinion of this Government that the situation in Europe is today so
critical, and the consequences of war would be so disastrous, that no step
should be overlooked or omitted that might possibly contribute to the
maintenance of peace. The President of the United States has already sent an
urgent appeal to the Chancellor of the German Reich, the President of
Czechoslovakia, and the Prime Ministers of Great Britain and France urging the
importance of keeping negotiations alive and seeking a just settlement of the
dispute through peaceful means. If the Chief of State or the Government to
which you are accredited were at once to send a comparable message to Germany
and Czechoslovakia, emphasizing in his own words the supreme importance of
foregoing the use of force in settling the dispute now at issue, we feel that
the cumulative effect of such an expression of opinion might possibly even at
this late date influence the course of events and contribute to the
426
DOCUMENTS
preservation of peace in Europe. Please make it clear that this
suggestion on our part does not in any way imply any opinion as to the points
of the dispute at issue.
"If the Government to which you are
accredited should already have taken such action please express appropriately
and with real appreciation of the step taken, the belief of this Government in
the cumulative value of this type of international appeal.
"For your information the following is
the text of the President's appeal referred to above:
"[Here follows quoted text of the
President's appeal as printed in doc. 112.]"