National Gallery of Art, Washington 25, D. C.
Washington, May 14, 1946: The members of the Commission have received copies of a resolution signed by Dr. Frederick M. Clapp, Director of the Frick Collection; Mrs. Juliana Force, Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, and others who criticize the action of the United States Government, taken at the Direction of the President and the United States Army Command in Germany, in bringing to this country certain paintings from German museums for safekeeping until conditions in Germany warrant their return. The Clapp resolution compares the action taken by the United States Government to looting operations carried on by the Nazis during the war.
The Commission has also noted the statements issued by the White House on September 26, 1945, and by the War Department on December 6, 1945, that the works of art of bona fide German ownership, which may be brought to this country for safekeeping, will be kept in trust for the German people and will be returned to Germany when conditions there warrant.
The Commission has also noted the statement issued by the late Chief Justice Stone, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Art, on December 14, 1945, that the Trustees of the National Gallery, at the request of the Secretary of State, had agreed to arrange for the storage space for such paintings as might be brought to this country by the United States Army for safekeeping, and that he felt the Army “deserved the highest praise for the care exercised in salvaging these great works of art and in making provisions for their safety until they can be returned to Germany.”
The Commission accepts without reservation the promise of the United States Government, as voiced by its highest officials, that the works of art belonging to German museums and brought to this country for safekeeping, will be returned to Germany when conditions there warrant.
The Commission is strongly of the opinion that the resolution sponsored by Dr. Clapp, Mrs. Force, and others is without justification and is to be deplored.
- Hon. Owen J. Roberts, Chairman
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- David E. Finley, Vice Chairman
- Director, National Gallery of Art
- Washington, D.C.
- Huntington Cairns, Secretary
- Secretary, National Gallery of Art
- Washington, D.C.
- Dr. William Bell Dinsmoor
- Columbia University, New York
- Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
- New York
- Paul J. Sachs
- Professor of Fine Arts, Harvard University
- Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Francis Cardinal Spellman
- Archbishop of New York
- Francis Henry Taylor
- Director, Metropolitan Museum of Art
- New York
The following letters were released on June 10, 1946:
THE WHITE HOUSE