Memorandum by Donald Brodie concerning the suppression and publication of the King-Crane Report, 28 August 1940

              ^1*  I       Memorandum Regarding the Suppression and
to" , '-,    Publication in 1922 of the King-Crane Report
\ on Mandates in Turkey.
^ . *    MnBln,rv reDort of the American Section of the     I
B«!™Hn July 9, 1919. The final report was completed In
Beirut on ouxj »» signed copy was left with
^LS^ O^J "' ^American Commi^ion to Negotiate 1
Peace! A second original copy was delivered by me at the j
Executive Office of the White House on or about Sept. 15th, |
1919, with a covering letter from Dr. King to President J
Wilson dated Sept,10th. i
No actowledgraens of the receipt of the Report was ever 1
received by the Commission from either the American Commission I
in Paris or President Wilson in Washington. Since the Report I
was not delivered in Washington until after President Wilson had I
left on the speaking tour which culminated in his serious 1
illness it Is doubtfiul that he ever saw or read the final I
Report. He was almost certainly not well enough to do so until
after he had retired from the Presidency.
No statement regarding the Report was ever made|by the       j
Department of State,  in 1934 I inquired about this and!        j
an official of the Department replied as follows:"A search
of the Department's files fails to disclose any announcement
or statement issued by the Department in regard to the Report."
In the months following the filing of ;the ReportCit was
rumored that both the French and the Jews had brought pressure
on the American Commission in Paris and the Department of
State in Washington to suppress the Report ,c; but there was no
definite evidence that could be secured. President Wilson had
hadgconsiderably more interest in the Commission on Mandates
than any of the other Comnjss loners J It is possible that after    \
he was Incapacitated there were none of the others who were
sufficiently interested to press the matter in face of the
very strong French and Jewish opposition that was known to      |
exist.£lt may akso have been thought that since the United      !
States was not likely to accept a mandate^She Near East
the immediate publication of the Report would be neither
diplomatic nor helpful.   r   \
R.«JJ%Cir£«!JsJan£es regarding the eventual relesse of the
2552.5? 19f2 by President Wilson are given in the attached
Mr" iro™ ri*^? by.me 4n Dec- 20> 192*« Both Mr. Baker and
Mr. Brown saw this statement and XJfJOffiXiai  attested its
accuracy. Unfortunately Mr. Barflies contl n ng hs  *
letter to President Wilson ^ the laW#p.8 repIy were lost.
D.M.B.   Aug.28,1940.
toTiV^' VST? £?» be pro,ected b» "WW* law