Dear
Winston: I apologize for getting you on the telephone at an hour that must have been inconvenient for you. However, I felt it necessary to cable an answer promptly to Mr. Mayer, and I certainly wanted to make no kind of suggestion on the matter of a personal meeting without prior consultation with you.1 Because Anthony was in the hospital, I knew of no one else to talk to except yourself.2
Your cable reached me the first thing this morning. I am delighted that you are stressing the importance of a friendly, informal talk among the three of us because of its own value. I agree with you that a lot of good ought to flow from such a meeting.
As we cabled you late last evening, I was mistaken as to the duration of my mid-June trip to the Western part of the country.3 It will be possible for me to reach Bermuda on the evening of the fifteenth, provided that date will be convenient also for you and Mr. Mayer. Incidentally, one of the reasons that I suggested our State of Maine as a suitable meeting place is because of the lovely weather there this time of year.
I assume that the three governments will be communicating among themselves concerning detailed arrangements for the conference. My personal thought is that each delegation should be quite small. I hope that the three top men can practically limit themselves to friendly discussion and informal conversations. I am personally restive if not irritable under the restriction of formal agenda. I understand, of course, that each of us should have one or two associates along so that detailed matters can be studied and put into proper form for any action we may find it desirable to take.
I particularly like the idea of the three of us bringing along our wives, which in my opinion would increase the value of the meeting as a symbol of the friendship existing among us.4
With warm regards, As ever
