Mr. VORYS. Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Vorys.

Mr. VORYS. In line with your request that Mr. Knudsen furnish his statements to the committee I wonder if he could furnish some sort of a summary of our present production status for our convenience, that is, such a summary as could be made public.

The CHAIRMAN. I would suggest to the gentleman from Ohio if he would kindly put it in writing and give it to the clerk, the clerk will see that Mr. Knudsen gets it. He has been asked for several things today and several requests have been made. If you put them in writing Mr. Knudsen, I know, will be very glad to try to comply with every request of every member of the committee.

Mr. TINKHAM. Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Tinkham.

Mr. TINKHAM. In view of the declination of Mr. Willkie to appear I intend to ask that he be subpenaed by the committee.

The CHAIRMAN. I do not believe that this committee has the right to subpena Mr. Willkie or any other person because, before we have the right to subpena we must have the right to pay him for his attendance before the committee.

Mr. JOHNSON. That is a matter that can be taken up in executive session.

The CHAIRMAN. I thought I would answer because Mr. Tinkham has not said anything yet today.

Thank you very much, Mr. Knudsen. We will adjourn until Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock.

LEND-LEASE BILL

TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1941

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, D. C.

The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Sol Bloom (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will kindly come to order. The committee has under consideration H. R. 1776.

The witness for this morning is the Ambassador to the Court of St. James, the Honorable Joseph P. Kennedy.

STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY TO GREAT BRITAIN

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Kennedy, have you a prepared statement? Mr. KENNEDY. No, sir; I have not any prepared statement. I merely want to say that I am here prepared to answer any questions that I properly can, that will be of any assistance, in the consideration of this bill.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. Mr. Fish.

Mr. FISH. Mr. Kennedy, how long have you been Ambassador to Great Britain?

Mr. KENNEDY. About 2 years and 9 months, approximately.

Mr. FISH. And prior to that, Mr. Kennedy, what Federal offices did you hold?

Mr. KENNEDY. I was Chairman of the Maritime Commission and Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. FISH. Therefore, Mr. Kennedy, you are familiar with the workings of the Federal Government.

Mr. KENNEDY. In a measure.

Mr. FISH. Mr. Kennedy, are you in a position to tell us something about the conditions, economic and financial, in England?

I

Mr. KENNEDY. I think perhaps I am, and if I can hear the questions, can tell you whether I can answer them or not.

Mr. FISH. Mr. Kennedy, the committee is very anxious to know, in the first place, about the financial situation in England, whether their finances are exhausted or not.

Mr. KENNEDY. That is a very difficult question. I read rather casually the memorandum prepared the other day by Secretary Morgenthau, and that would seem to indicate that they were not yet exhausted. Mr. FISH. Are you in a position to tell us anything about the economic situation in England?

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Mr. KENNEDY. What phase of it, sir?

Mr. FISH. As it affects the shipping; the feeding of the English people?

Mr. KENNEDY. I do not quite understand how the shipping and the feeding would apply to the economic situation. If you ask me if I know what the condition of their shipping is

Mr. FISH. I will divide the question. I made it a little too broad. Mr. KENNEDY. Yes.

Mr. FISH. I will divide the question and ask you if you will tell us something about the situation of British shipping.

Mr. KENNEDY. Well, I would think the shipping situation, as far as Great Britain is concerned, was a vital and serious one at the present time.

Mr. FISH. And, therefore, the British are in need of additional ships in every possible way?

Mr. KENNEDY. I should think, if the rate of destruction of shipping were to continue to any degree similar to what it was previous to the last month, that some time in this year, unless they got shipping, their whole condition would be a serious and a vital one.

Mr. FISH. The previous witness, Mr. Kennedy, all referred to the probability of a crisis in Great Britain within the next 60 or 90 days. Could you enlarge on that?

Mr. KENNEDY. I think there has been a crisis in Great Britain since September 3, 1939. I think it became very acute in June of this year. Unless I knew just exactly what was meant by the crisis that was to occur in the next 60 or 90 days, I could not give you an explanation. But if it is meant that England will fall within the next 60 or 90 days, I do not know on what that can be based. It seems to me that the situation has been very critical there since the fall of France.

The CHAIRMAN. Just for the purpose of correcting the record, Mr. Kennedy, you said June of this year; you meant June of last year? Mr. KENNEDY. That is right; June of 1940.

Mr. FISH. I cannot help you out on the definition of the crisis. It has been referred to by practically every witness; that is, that there would be a crisis within 60 or 90 days. You have answered the question

Mr. KENNEDY. It is very difficult for me to explain just exactly what that crisis is unless I knew what is meant by the word "crisis. I said on Saturday night that there were a great many things about the situation from a military point in England that were not clear to me. That is, I do not still understand why it is-and I never understood why it was that the Germans permitted the British Army of 300,000 to escape from Dunkerque. If their strength was as great as they said it was-if the German air strength was as great as they said it was, I never could understand why at that time, when they had a real chance to wipe out the real strength of the British Army, it was not wiped out.

I read with interest this morning an editorial in a Washington paper which attempted to explain why they had not bombed industrial cities. I read it with very great interest, because it has always struck me, even from the communiqués, that when the Germans came over and made up their mind to get some place, the antiaircraft guns and the balloon barrages never had very much of an effect. That being the case, I have never quite understood, if the Germans

had this terrific air strength now, why they have not attempted to finish England off at any time. It may be that something is happening that I know nothing about, or that has happened since the 22d of October. But if the Germans have the strength to capture the air, then I would say that the crisis could happen any minute at all. But they have not indicated that they have that strength.

Mr. FISH. Mr. Kennedy, do you know the war aims of the British Government?

Mr. KENNEDY. I certainly do not, sir.

Mr. FISH. Do you not think that something should be done to find out the war aims before we adopt our own policy toward the British Government and the war?

Mr. KENNEDY. Well, it strikes me-I do not quite get the question there.

Mr. FISH. I will have to preface it by a little remark, because you may not understand at least my position and I think that of the committee. We all are in favor of all aid to Great Britain within the provisions of the Constitution and short of war. But some members of the committee think that we should know more about the war aims before we complete this bill and actually vote upon it. Do you know of any way we could find out the war aims of the British Government?

Mr. KENNEDY. I do not; I have never heard them expressed. I would think that the State Department would be the only way that you could find that out, by their asking the British Government.

Mr. FISH. Do you know whether there is any discussion in England itself as to their war aims? Are there any elements asking for the war aims?

Mr. KENNEDY. There has been discussion right through, ever since the war started. There was discussion early in the situation, but I have never heard anything that came from the Government. People are constantly agitating and asking, "What are we fighting for?"

Mr. FISH. You have nothing to suggest that would help us ascertain those war aims before we complete the consideration of the bill? Mr. KENNEDY. I would not, except to ask the State Department. But I fail to see, even if you were uncertain as to the war aims where that would be a point to have in consideration in limiting aid to England.

Mr. FISH. This is a very broad and comprehensive bill.

Mr. KENNEDY. Yes; I quite agree.

Mr. FISH. It is, of course, aimed primarily to help Great Britain. Mr. KENNEDY. Yes.

Mr. FISH. You do not know anything about the visit of Mr. Hopkins to England, whether that has anything to do with their war aims?

Mr. KENNEDY. I have not the slightest idea, sir.

Mr. FISH. Is it fair, Mr. Kennedy, to the British people, for us to intimate that we are prepared to help them either in the invasion or the reconquest of Europe?

Mr. KENNEDY. I have never seen that; I do not believe we have ever done that, except some people may have taken it on themselves; but I do not think that officially we have ever done that. Certainly nobody in England ever had that idea while I was there.

Mr. FISH. You never did, and no one under your control ever did?