Franklin D. Roosevelt

Statement on Relations Between the Department of State and the Board of Economic Warfare.

May 20, 1942

The following will clarify certain relations and functions of the Department of State and the Board of Economic Warfare in the administration of the President's Executive Order No. 9128, regarding the Board, and provide for cooperative action between them.

It is contemplated that meetings of the Board will be held at least every two weeks. An agenda for each meeting will be circulated in advance, and each member of the Board is free to raise questions upon his own initiative.

In the making of decisions, the Board and its officers will continue to recognize the primary responsibility and position, under the President, of the Secretary of State in the formulation and conduct of our foreign policy and our relations with foreign Nations. In matters of business judgment concerned with providing for the production and procurement of materials to be imported into this country for the war effort, including civilian supply, the Department will recognize the primary responsibility and position of the Board. In many cases a decision may involve both matters of foreign policy and business judgment in varying degrees. No clear-cut separation is here possible. Accordingly, if occasions arise in which proposed action of the Board or its officers is thought by officials of the State Department to be at variance with essential considerations of foreign policy, the Secretary of State and the Chairman of the Board will discuss such matters and reach a joint decision, in matters of sufficient importance obtaining direction from the President.

The Board will continue to recognize that it is the function of the Department of State to conduct or authorize the conduct of all negotiations with foreign Governments in Washington and abroad. In negotiations relating to the production and procurement of commodities intended for import in accordance with the President's Executive Order, the State Department will recognize the necessity for the participation of representatives of the Board in order that the latter may adequately discharge its responsibilities. In short, for the effective exercise of the functions both of the Board and the Department, it is essential that from the inception of any project there be complete exchange of information, mutual consultation, and mutual confidence.

In negotiations regarding lend-lease master agreements, subsidiary agreements, and arrangements for their implementation, including reciprocal aid to the United States, the Department will obtain the advice, and with respect to the importation of materials and commodities (other than arms and munitions) will obtain the participation of the Board and keep it fully informed.

Missions and individuals desired by the Board to be sent to. the field shall be agreed upon by the State Department and the Board in the light of their common desire to increase to the maximum the war effort. The Board will recognize that all functions which are being or can be performed through the regular or auxiliary Foreign Services of the Department should be so performed. The persons and missions which the Board contemplates being sent to the field, other than through the services mentioned, are those needed for the specialized technical and operational functions connected with production and procurement. The Department of State will recognize the need for sending such persons. In exceptional circumstances the Board and the State Department will collaborate in sending joint missions on problems arising from export control or the general economic warfare activities of this Government.

The Board will recognize that persons sent abroad, as provided above, shall be authorized by the Secretary of State, shall assume the status directed by the Secretary of State, and in this respect be subject to the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State. The Chief of the United States Diplomatic Mission in a foreign country is the officer of the United States in charge in that country under whose supervision are coordinated the activities there of all the official representatives of the United States. All negotiations abroad with foreign Governments or officials should be conducted by or under the direction of the Chief of the Diplomatic Mission in the manner described above applicable to negotiations in which the Department and the Board participate. All activities should be fully reported to the Chief of the Diplomatic Mission and be conducted under his advice and instructions. He will respect the position of the Board's representatives in matters of technical and business judgment and, should questions arise that cannot be settled by agreement in the field, which should rarely be the case, they will be reported through the State Department and settled by the Secretary of State and the Chairman of the Board.

All communications to and from persons or missions sent abroad shall be through the facilities of the Department of State and diplomatic missions, unless other means are agreed upon between the Board and the Department of State. The Department will do its utmost to provide expeditious means for such communications.

Both the Department of State and the Board of Economic Warfare and their officers recognize in the present emergency the need for speed in action and the importance of avoiding all delay in the decision of important matters.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Statement on Relations Between the Department of State and the Board of Economic Warfare. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/210599

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