861.00/6107
The Secretary of State to President Wilson
My Dear Mr. President: I enclose a memorandum which I ask your authority to read to the Japanese Ambassador.75 It means the withdrawal of all our forces from Siberia. I heartily recommend it for your approval. The Secretary of War has read it and is in thorough accord. He informs me the Mount Vernon is now approaching Vladivostok and is large enough to carry all our troops.
The truth of the matter is the simple fact that the Kolchak Government has utterly collapsed; the armies of the Bolsheviki have [Page 393] advanced into Eastern Siberia, where they are reported to be acting with moderation. The people seem to prefer them to the officers of the Kolchak régime. Further, the Bolshevik army is approaching the region where our soldiers are, and contact with them will lead to open hostilities and to many complications. In other words, if we do not withdraw we shall have to wage war against the Bolsheviki.
I ask your early and earnest consideration and your authority to proceed.
Faithfully yours,
- For text of the memorandum as transmitted to the Japanese Ambassador, see Foreign Relations, 1920, vol. iii, p. 487.↩