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Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918
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Historical SummaryA few days after Winston S. Churchill became British Prime Minister in May 1940, he wrote President Roosevelt of Great Britain’s desperate need for destroyers to meet the German submarine menace. Soon thereafter negotiations were begun for the granting of leases for United States naval and air bases on several British possessions in the Atlantic. President Roosevelt tied the two projects together and, with Churchill, effected what has since come to be known as the "destroyers-bases deal." The arrangement was concluded by means of an exchange of letters between British Ambassador Lord Lothian and Secretary of State Cordell Hull on September 2, 1940. The letters were implemented by a detailed agreement signed in London on March 27, 1941.
World History 272–280.
ENTRY OF THE UNITED STATES INTO THE WAR
272.
The "Destroyers-Bases Deal," September 2, 194022
EXCHANGE OF NOTES REGARDING UNITED STATES DESTROYERS AND NAVAL AND AIR FACILITIES FOR THE UNITED STATES IN BRITISH TRANSATLANTIC TERRITORIES
NO. 1 THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIAN TO MR. CORDELL HULL
Washington, September 2, 1940.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour, under instructions from His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to inform you that in view of the friendly and sympathetic interest of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom in the national security of the United States and their desire to strengthen the ability of the United States to cooperate effectively with the other nations of the Americas in the defence of the Western Hemisphere, His Majesty’s Government will secure the grant to the Government of the United States, freely and without consideration, of the lease for immediate establishment and use of Naval and Air bases and facilities for entrance thereto and the operation and protection thereof, on the Avalon Peninsula and on the Southern coast of Newfoundland, and on the East coast and on the Great Bay of Bermuda.
Furthermore, in view of the above and in view of the desire of the United States to acquire additional Air and Naval bases in the Caribbean and in British Guiana, and without endeavouring to place a monetary or commercial value upon the many tangible and intangible rights and properties involved, His Majesty’s Government will make available to the United States for immediate establishment and use Naval and Air bases and facilities for entrance thereto and the operation and protection thereof, on the Eastern side of the Bahamas, the Southern coast of Jamaica, the Western coast of St. Lucia, the West coast of Trinidad in the Gulf of Paria, in the Island of Antigua, and in British Guiana within fifty miles of Georgetown, in exchange for Naval and Military equipment and material which the United States Government will transfer to His Majesty’s Government.
All of the bases and facilities referred to in the preceding paragraphs will be leased to the United States for a period of ninety-nine years free from all rent and charges other than such compensation to be mutually agreed on to be paid by the United States in order to compensate the owners of private property for loss by expropriation or damage arising out of the establishment of the bases and facilities in question.
His Majesty’s Government in the leases to be agreed upon will grant to the United States for the period of the leases all the rights, power and authority within the bases leased, and within the limits of the territorial waters and air spaces adjacent to or in the vicinity of such bases, necessary to provide access to and defence of such bases and appropriate provisions for their control.
Without prejudice to the above-mentioned rights of the United States authorities and their jurisdiction within the leased areas, the adjustment and reconciliation between the jurisdiction of the authorities of the United States within these areas and the jurisdiction of the authorities of the territories in which these areas are situated shall be determined by common agreement.
The exact location and bounds of the aforesaid bases, the necessary seaward, coast and anti-aircraft defences, the location of sufficient military garrisons, stores and other necessary auxiliary facilities shall be determined by common agreement.
His Majesty’s Government are prepared to designate immediately experts to meet with experts of the United States for these purposes. Should these experts be unable to agree in any particular situation except in the case of Newfoundland and Bermuda, the matter shall be settled by the Secretary of State of the United States and His Majesty’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
I have, etc.
LOTHIAN.
NO. 2 MR. CORDELL HULL TO THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIAN
Washington, September 2, 1940.
Excellency,
I HAVE received your note of 2nd September, 1940, of which the text is as follows:—
[As in NO. 1.]*
I am directed by the President to reply to your note as follows:
"The Government of the United States appreciates the declarations and the generous action of His Majesty’s Government, as contained in your communications, which are destined to enhance the national security of the United States and greatly to strengthen its ability to cooperate effectively with the other nations of the Americas in the defence of the Western Hemisphere. It therefore gladly accepts the proposals.
"The Government of the United States will immediately designate experts to meet with experts designated by His Majesty’s Government to determine upon the exact location of the Naval and Air bases mentioned in your communication under acknowledgment.
"In consideration of the declarations above quoted, the Government of the United States will immediately transfer to His Majesty’s Government fifty United States Navy Destroyers generally referred to as the twelve-hundred ton type."
Accept, etc.
CORDELL HULL.
22 United States, Department of State (Publication No. 1726), Executive Agreement Series 235: Leased Naval and Air Bases. Agreement and Exchanges of Notes between the United States of America and Great Britain and Protocol between the United States, Great Britain, and Canada Concerning the Defense of Newfoundland. Signed March 27, 1941, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1942, pp. 14–16.
23 A good account of the negotiations may be found in Sherwood, R. E., Roosevelt and Hopkins. An Intimate History, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1948, pp. 174–176.—Ed.
* Brackets in original.—Ed.
Contents:
Chicago: "Entry of the United States Into the War," Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918 in Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918, ed. Walter Consuelo Langsam and James Michael Egan (Chicage: Lippincott, 1951), 908–911. Original Sources, accessed November 23, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=ZIYEW5WTC4MCC2M.
MLA: . "Entry of the United States Into the War." Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918, in Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918, edited by Walter Consuelo Langsam and James Michael Egan, Chicage, Lippincott, 1951, pp. 908–911. Original Sources. 23 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=ZIYEW5WTC4MCC2M.
Harvard: , 'Entry of the United States Into the War' in Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918. cited in 1951, Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918, ed. , Lippincott, Chicage, pp.908–911. Original Sources, retrieved 23 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=ZIYEW5WTC4MCC2M.
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