The moral foundations of our war effort and final victories will be subtly undermined if we, who understand the implications, pass over in silence an action taken by our own officials that, in outward appearance at least cannot be distinguished from those, detestable to all right thinking people, which the Nazis’ policy of pillage inspired and condoned.
The Monuments Officers attached to our armed forces with their specialized knowledge of the practical risks involved unanimously condemned the decision. Those Americans whose profession it is to study and preserve old paintings deplore it. On ethical grounds it is disapproved by the opinion of enlightened laymen.
We therefore consider the protest we will make to be our plain and simple duty, for it is our considered judgment that no explanation or excuse acceptable to the public conscience can be found for sending fragile old masters across the sea to this country. The physical hazards, the momentous responsibilities and the intellectual ambiguities inherent in such an act are only too grossly evident. The historical repercussions that will follow it can be imagined in the light of past situations of a similar kind. It is well known that the Nazis inculcated in the German mind a fanatical belief that we are destructive barbarians. All future deterioration of these pictures will now, rightly or wrongly, be laid at our door.
We should be glad if you would care to join us and others, who have already expressed to us their sense of the unjustified impropriety of the action to which we refer in demanding the immediate return to Germany of these panels and canvasses, the cancellation of all plans to exhibit them in this country and the countermanding at once of any contemplated further shipments.
The text of the proposed resolution is enclosed. As one of the principal reasons for submitting it to our government is to forestall further action of a similar kind with reference to pictures or objects of art belonging to German museums, as well as to rectify the existing situation, may I earnestly request you to signify your approval, if you are so minded, by signing the resolution and returning it to me before May 6.
Sincerely yours,
Signed: Frederick Mortimer Clapp.
On May 9, 1946, Dr. Clapp and Mrs. Juliana Force, director of the Whitney Museum, sent President Truman the following resolution, a copy of which was enclosed with the above letter: