Newton D. Baker to Woodrow Wilson
Title
Newton D. Baker to Woodrow Wilson
Creator
Baker, Newton Diehl, 1871-1937
Identifier
WWP25553
Date
1918 November 27
Description
Baker tells President Wilson that Josephus Daniels warns that the trip to France should stick to its original destination port of Brest.
Source
Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Papers
Publisher
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
Subject
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924--Correspondence
United States. Navy
Daniels, Josephus, 1862-1948
Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920)
Contributor
Anna Phillips
Relation
WWP25554
Language
English
Provenance
Document scan was taken from Library of Congress microfilm reel of the Wilson Papers. WWPL volunteers transcribed the text.
Text
My dear Mr. President:
I have just talked with Secretary Daniels and he tells me that the Navy Bureau of Operations believe it would be unwise to change the destination from Brest to Marseilles for two reasons:
(1) They have carefully studied out the route to Brest and have arranged to carry you more southerly than the usual Brest route, so that the trip will be in a temperate climate most of the way.
(2) The mine-fields have been specially studies, and much greater safety is felt for the Brest route than through the Mediterranean. The difficulty through the Mediterranean is from floating mines in and about Gibralter where ocean currents both from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, it is thought, may carry mines against which no safe provision can be made.
I have told Secretary Daniels that I felt on this statement from his Bureau of Operations we ought to adhere to the Brest route, and unless you instruct me to the contrary I will not order the change to Marseilles.
Respectfully yours,
Newton D. Baker
The President,
The White House.
I have just talked with Secretary Daniels and he tells me that the Navy Bureau of Operations believe it would be unwise to change the destination from Brest to Marseilles for two reasons:
(1) They have carefully studied out the route to Brest and have arranged to carry you more southerly than the usual Brest route, so that the trip will be in a temperate climate most of the way.
(2) The mine-fields have been specially studies, and much greater safety is felt for the Brest route than through the Mediterranean. The difficulty through the Mediterranean is from floating mines in and about Gibralter where ocean currents both from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, it is thought, may carry mines against which no safe provision can be made.
I have told Secretary Daniels that I felt on this statement from his Bureau of Operations we ought to adhere to the Brest route, and unless you instruct me to the contrary I will not order the change to Marseilles.
Respectfully yours,
Newton D. Baker
The President,
The White House.
Original Format
Letter
To
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Files
Collection
Citation
Baker, Newton Diehl, 1871-1937, “Newton D. Baker to Woodrow Wilson,” 1918 November 27, WWP25553, World War I Letters, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.