763.72112/12393: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Commission to Negotiate Peace
2714. Your 3354, July 27, 12 p.m. The President desires me to send the following answer to the message of your British, French, Italian and Japanese colleagues relative to the blockade of Soviet Russia.
“The President is not unmindful of the serious situation which exists in relation to neutral trade in the Baltic with the Russian ports controlled by the Bolsheviks. He has given careful consideration to the arguments advanced in the message transmitted at the request of M. Clemenceau and is not unmindful of their force in support of the proposed interruption of commerce with the ports mentioned. However, while he fully understands the reasons for employing war measures to prevent the importation of munitions and food supplies into the portion of Russia now in the hands of the Bolsheviks, he labors under the difficulty of being without constitutional [Page 156] right to prosecute an act of war such as a blockade affecting neutrals unless there has been a declaration of war by the Congress of the United States against the nation so blockaded.
The landing of troops at Archangel and Murmansk was done to protect the property and supplies of the American and Allied Governments until they could be removed. The sending of troops to Siberia was to keep open the railway for the protection of Americans engaged in its operation and to make safe from possible German and Austrian attack the retiring Czechoslovaks. The furnishing of supplies to the Russians in Siberia, while indicating a sympathy with the efforts to restore order and safety of life and property, cannot be construed as a belligerent act.
The President is convinced that, if proper representations are made to the countries neutral during the war, they can be induced to prohibit traffic in arms and munitions with the portions of Russia controlled by the Bolsheviks. The avowed hostility of the Bolsheviks to all governments and the announced program of international revolution make them as great a menace to the national safety of neutral countries as to Allied countries. For any government to permit them to increase their power through commercial intercourse with its nationals would be to encourage a movement which is frankly directed against all governments and would certainly invite the condemnation of all peoples desirous of restoring peace and social order.
The President cannot believe that any government, whose people might be in a position to carry on commerce with the Russian ports referred to, would be so indifferent to the opinion of the civilized world as to permit [military] supplies to be exported to those ports directly or indirectly.
The President, therefore, suggests that the so-called neutral government be approached by the Allied and Associated Governments in a joint note setting forth the facts of the case and the menace to such countries and to the world of any increase of the Bolshevik power, and requesting the neutral governments to take immediate steps to prevent trade and commerce with Bolshevik Russia and to give assurances that such policy will be rigorously enforced in conjunction with other governments which are equally menaced.”
Confidentially, I believe that the action proposed by your colleagues, of which the approval of the President is urged, would arouse serious criticism by Congress if the President acted accordingly on the legal ground of having exceeded his constitutional powers and on the politic ground of interference in the domestic affairs of Russia. With the present partisan feeling in Congress, while the ratification of the Treaty of Peace is undecided, any action which would bring about a new controversy or a new excuse for criticism would be manifestly unwise.
In carrying out a general policy of non-intercourse with the Bolshevik territory this Government could deny clearance to all American vessels for the Baltic ports referred to as well as passports to [Page 157] persons seeking to visit those regions, and the same action by other governments would accomplish the same purpose as a hostile blockade.
You may discreetly use the foregoing arguments in explanation of the President’s unwillingness to reverse the decision as to instituting a blockade of Russian ports in the Baltic.