a precedent that could be applied to China. The French cabinet minister that Koo was most close to was Georges Mandel, the minister of the colonies. As the colonial minister, Mandel was in charge of French Indochina and thus had the power to allow or deny arm shipments to China. By contrast, Koo had difficult relations with Georges Bonnet, the foreign minister who was in favor of ceasing arm shipments to China to improve relations with Japan. Through Mandel did not always the authority, he continued to allow Soviet arms to be transshipped via Indochina to China over the protests of both Bonnet and the Japanese. Koo reported that through the French Premier Édouard Daladier did not always support the anti-appeasement faction in his cabinet led by Mandel, but that Daladier was sympathetic towards China and overruled Bonnet when he pressed to have the Indochinese railroad closed. French premiers in the Third Republic had powers analogous to the chairmen of a committee as cabinets in the Third Republic were coalition governments. The Daladier cabinet was divided into three factions with the "peace lobby" (appeasement) faction led by Bonnet; the "firmness" (anti-appeasement) faction led by Mandel; and Daladier leading another faction that rested uneasily between the other two. The ambassador that Koo spoke with the most was William Christian Bullitt Jr., the American ambassador to France. Bullitt was a close friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt who had appointed him ambassador to France in 1936 to serve as his personal representative in Paris as Bullitt completely by-passed the Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, and instead sent his reports straight to the president, whom he also spoke to by telephone at least once every week. Koo had hopes that speaking to Bullitt would influence Roosevelt. In July 1938 when the Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau Jr., visited Paris, Bullitt introduced him to Koo, whom spoke about the need for American economic aid to China. Through Morgenthau could make no promises on behalf of Congress, he promised to use his influence in Washington to lobby for financial aid to China. In September 1938, Koo attended the fall session of the League of Nations in Geneva, where he pressed for sanctions against Japan. In his speech, Koo complained at the previous sessions of the League in September 1938 and in May 1938, all China had received were "nicely-worded resolutions", going on to say "The resolutions