DELAYED RELEASE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 August 1941, Page 5

DELAYED RELEASE

OF NEWS OF MEETING IN DEFERENCE TO REQUEST BY ROOSEVELT. ANXIETY FOR CHURCHILL’S SAFETY. LONDON. August 14. Explaining why Mr Attlee s statement surprised Britain, though the American public had been reading about the meeting since August 12, the “Daily Mail” says President Roosevelt personally requested that no mention be made in the British newspapers. Quotations from the American papers cabled throughout the world were certainly in the possession of the Germans, but Mr Roosevelt insisted on no official statement till after the meeting because he was anxious for Mr Churchill’s safety. Mr Roosevelt' realised that if the Germans knew about Mr Churchill’s transatlantic journey they would do their utmost to attack him. The British Government acceded to

Mr Roosevelt’s urgent request but extracts from the uncensored American

newspapers began to arrive in Britain on August 12. A decision had then to be made whether the British papers should publish the quotations, but it was decided to maintain the censorship, first because reprinting of the reports would tend to confirm the meeting for the Germans, and secondly because enemy agents would then have a good chance of picking up something valuable from persons knowing something of Mr Churchill’s journey.