Office of the Historian

861.51/272

The Secretary of State to President Wilson

Washington, February 16, 1918 .

My Dear Mr. President: A copy of this message has been sent to you and I am sure that it causes you the same concern that it does me.64

I think that resolutions of this sort are valueless and tend to give an impression that we recognize a certain measure of force in acts of the Bolshevik Government. This seems to me unfortunate. In any event I think it unwise for Mr. Crosby to act in a matter which is chiefly political rather than financial. Do you not think it would be well to speak to Secretary McAdoo about this and see if something cannot be done to offset this unauthorized action on the part of Mr. Crosby?

Faithfully yours,

Robert Lansing
  1. Telegram No. 8656, Feb. 14, 1918, from the Ambassador in Great Britain, Foreign Relations, 1918, Russia, vol. iii, p. 34.↩