Cablegram 117 WASHINGTON, 12 June 1940, 1.25 p.m.
Received 13 June 1940, 8.30 a.m.
My telegrams No. 107 Canberra and No. 31 London. [1] The general reaction to Italian declaration of war is one of contempt and disgust. The bitter denunciation of it by the President [2] in his radio address June 10th has been enthusiastically endorsed. So has his pledge on the same occasion for speedy material help to the Allies and general mood is that every kind of material aid should be given to the Allies short of active military participation.
Military intervention has only a very few advocates. Far more people however are anticipating it though majority still continue to oppose it. [3]
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1 Document 328.
2 Franklin D. Roosevelt.
3 This cablegram was repeated as no. 34 to S. M. Bruce, High Commissioner in London.
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[AA: A981, ITALY 60B]