I’m sorry today’s post isn’t the sort of document where I am super excited to tell you how interesting it is. During the war, everyone worked 6 days a week, Monday-Saturday. So when the War Refugee Board gets really active (mid-February or so), I have about 150 documents a day to choose from, six days a week. The exception is Sunday, when there are normally only about 30 documents, mostly letters from the public or newspaper clippings.
February 6, 1944 was a Sunday. So there are a few letters from the public, a few congratulatory letters to Pehle for his new appointment, a clipping or two, and then this letter from John McCloy to Pehle. Remember how the WRB sent a cable to all the different embassies to announce the new US policy? Well, they couldn’t do that for the military. In this letter, McCloy tells Pehle he forwarded the information to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and it’s their decision whether or not to forward the information to the various theaters.