File No. 763.72/4834
The Secretary of State to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs ( Tereshchenko)
I have received with gratification your excellency’s telegram of the 21st instant1 advising me that the Russian democracy is inspired with the sentiment of full solidarity with the United States, which, you aptly say, has espoused the cause of the Entente Allies for the defense of justice and right.
The war is carried on, as you say, to secure the freedom of nations and to achieve universal lasting peace. To attain these ends the democracies of the world must band together to guarantee each other against unprovoked attack by conscienceless autocrats who employ themselves in weaving intrigue and laying schemes for the aggrandizement of power and the promotion of personal ambition at the expense of their own peoples and of defenseless nations as well.
The present business is to defeat the designs and machinations of the German autocratic Government. To accomplish that result the United States will apply all of its physical, moral and intellectual forces, and I am happy to feel assured that the great democracy of Russia will keep step with us until our common aims shall be successfully accomplished.