File No. 763.72/4377a

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Russia ( Francis )

[Telegram—Extract]1

1366. … I would further point out that we are sending to Russia and to no other country at the present time a commission of prominent men because of the intense sympathy of the American Government and people for the great nation which has become a democracy. The commission will be headed by Honorable Elihu Root, a most distinguished statesman, who is devoted to the cause of political liberty and to the sovereign rights of the people. It is the primary purpose of this commission to convey to the Russian Government the friendship and good will of this nation and to express the confident hope that the Russian people, having developed a political system founded on the principle of democracy, will join with the free people of America in resisting with firmness and fortitude the ambitious designs of the German Government which by force, intrigue and deception they are striving to attain. The commission will further be charged with the duty of finding the most efficient means of cooperating with the Russian Government in the prosecution of the war with the united purpose of accomplishing the overthrow of military autocracy, which menaces human liberty and all democratic institutions. …

Lansing