Cablegram Johcu 24 CANBERRA, 13 March 1942
MOST IMMEDIATE MOST SECRET
I desire to inform you that Dr. H. V. Evatt, Minister for External Affairs and Attorney General, who is accompanied by his wife, is leaving Australia immediately for the United Kingdom and United States of America. He is travelling by air across the Pacific Ocean and will visit United States of America first.[1]
2. His visit is being made so that there can be direct Ministerial representation of the Government by a Minister who is fully familiar with its present problems and views thereon.
3. On arrival in the United Kingdom it is desired that he be accepted as the accredited representative of the Australian Government in the War Cabinet and admitted to its deliberations on the same basis as Sir Earle Page. Dr. Evatt will also be the Australian representative on the Pacific War Council.
CURTIN
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1 Evatt left Sydney on 13 March, reached San Francisco on 17 March and arrived in Washington on 19 March.
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[AA:MP1217, BOX 474, DR H. V. EVATT … VISIT TO UNITED ‘KINGDOM AND U.S.A.-1942]