Since the WRB believed that the best chance of saving the most people was through psychological warfare, they continued to work on a new declaration of atrocities. In December 1942, after the publicity surrounding the US confirmation of a Nazi extermination plan, the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and many of the governments-in-exile in London had issued a statement promising post-war punishment for the perpetrators of these crimes.

But the WRB wanted a new one, calling specific attention to atrocities against the Jews. It was approved in draft form by the State Dept and this memo to the files is about a meeting with Assistant Secretaries at the War Department. As you can see, John McCloy wanted to tone down the language, and McGeorge Bundy didn’t remember that we had promised post-war punishment.