Letter CANBERRA, 2 February 1944
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
I am very grateful for your kind invitation [1] to visit Washington and to stay with Mrs. Roosevelt and yourself at the White House. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be able to accept it.
2. Mr. Churchill has been in touch with me about a meeting of Prime Ministers this year and, if this eventuates, I would be delighted to visit you on my way to London. We could then discuss those matters relating to the Pacific area in which we have such mutual and common interests.
3. Thank you for your kind remarks about Australia’s war effort.
We are stretched to the utmost, and, as the demands on our manpower and material resources exceed our capacity, the constant problem confronting the Government is to determine the precise limits of what we are capable of doing in the field and in the various avenues of services and supplies. Our great anxiety is to help General MacArthur to the utmost, both in respect of our own military effort and the aid which we can give to the United States Forces in the Southwest and South Pacific Areas.
4. Your good wishes for the New Year are heartily reciprocated, and I trust that, at the end of 1944, we shall be well on the way to final victory.
With kindest regards to Mrs. Roosevelt and yourself.
JOHN CURTIN
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1 Document 3.
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[AA:A5954, Box 646]