760F.62/147½

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)

The Minister of Czechoslovakia7 called to see me this morning. The Minister was obviously very gravely apprehensive and deeply concerned at the course of events in Europe. He told me that the position of his Government, he had been instructed to say to me, was that publicly announced by Prime Minister Hodža some ten days ago,8 namely, that Czechoslovakia desired to maintain friendly relations with Germany; that the Republic would deal in a fair, equitable and conciliatory manner with the German minorities in Czechoslovakia; that these minorities, however, would be dealt with on an equality with the other component races in Czechoslovakia and would, under no conditions, be given a privileged or autonomous position; finally, that if Czechoslovakia was attacked or was confronted with any effort at intervention of a physical character in her domestic concerns, Czechoslovakia would fight to the last ditch.

The Minister stated to me that the Czechoslovak Minister in Berlin had been instructed to express the concern of the Government of Czechoslovakia over the presence of German troops in Austria in view of the fact that the boundary between Austria and Czechoslovakia was undefended and, secondly, to register a formal protest against the flight of German military planes over Czechoslovak territory. These representations have been made by the Czechoslovak Minister to Marshal Goering9 himself. In reply Marshal Goering has stated that the German troops in Austria would be instructed not to proceed to any point within Austria less than fifteen kilometers from the Czechoslovak frontier and that an immediate investigation would be made of the reported flight of German planes over Czechoslovakia.

Mr. Hurban stated that, of course, this was not very reassuring. He said that the mere expression of willingness to keep German troops fifteen kilometers from the boundary between Austria and his own country meant nothing at all. He said that during the past few days Czechoslovakia had made no representations whatever to Germany with regard to the Austrian situation, believing that the problem was a general European problem and that until and unless the great European powers took action, it was absurd for a small country like Czechoslovakia to take any action.

The Minister then inquired as to what the point of view of this Government might be and what, if anything, it intended to do. In [Page 486] reply, I stated that the general principles in international relations which this Government supported had been repeatedly and officially announced both by the President and by the Secretary of State. I said that it had been and remained our hope that the other governments of the world would likewise undertake to govern their international relations on such foundations. With regard to the immediate situation in Europe, I said that this Government had taken no action, had made no representations and intended to make none. I said that the policy of the United States, which I was sure the Minister knew, as supported by the majority of the people of this country, was to remain completely aloof from any involvement in European affairs. I added that as the Secretary of State had frequently said, this Government believed neither in a policy of involvement nor in a policy of hermit-like isolation; that insofar as any involvement in purely European entanglements was concerned, the Administration would follow completely the traditional policy of the United States.

The Minister said that he already had taken it for granted that this was the case and had so informed his Government by cable on Saturday.

I took occasion to felicitate the Minister upon the signing of the trade agreement between our two countries.10 He said that the final signature of the agreement had been a matter of very real satisfaction to him and to his Government and that he had been impressed with the change of sentiment in the press which had been made evident, even in New England, since the agreement had been signed. He added that during the past few days he had been talking to some of the congressmen whom he knew personally and who had been so openly antagonistic to negotiation and that he had found them well satisfied with the result. They had said to him, he remarked, that the attitude they had taken had only been due to the pressure brought to bear upon them by some of their constituents.

S[umner] W[elles]
  1. Vladimír Hurban.
  2. March 4; see Documents on International Affairs, 1938, vol. ii, p. 113.
  3. German Minister for Aviation.
  4. See vol. ii, pp. 223 ff.