711.61/684: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3:42 p.m.]
768. At the Foreign Office yesterday afternoon Potemkin informally brought to my attention, making it clear that in so doing he was not in any way making a démarche, the following matters recently reported by the Soviet Embassy at Washington which have resulted in some uneasiness and I inferred considerable annoyance:
- 1.
- The activities of the Dies Committee80 which he stated has solicited and given considerable publicity to the testimony of “slanderers and enemies of the Soviet Union” such as Dubrovski and Krevitski and which also has undertaken or has announced its intention to undertake an investigation of Amtorg and other Soviet institutions in the United States.
- 2.
- Hostile and malicious references presumably made during the Dies Committee hearings and in the American press to the Soviet Embassy and its personnel implying that they engaged in improper and inimical activities.
- 3.
- An actual attack and subsequent threats against the Bookniga81 establishment in Chicago.
I assured Potemkin after making reference to the large degree of independence enjoyed by Congressional committees and the freedom of the American press that I would report his observations and that I had no doubt my Government desired insofar as it was possible to discourage any tendency to promote discord between our respective countries. With reference to the Chicago incident I remarked that I had no doubt that on request adequate police protection would be afforded.