762.71/43: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:19 p.m.]
522. I called on Bonnet36 this afternoon and asked for his view of the situation in Rumania.
He replied that Gafencu, the Rumanian Foreign Minister, had sent for the French Minister this morning and had said to him that there was no question of an ultimatum and that the Germans yesterday had talked much more reasonably and he expected that the commercial negotiations now in progress between Germany and Rumania would result in an agreement.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bonnet went on to say that he had in [seen?] the Soviet Ambassador and had asked him what support the Soviet Union would give to Rumania in case Rumania should resist with force German aggression or demands incompatible with her independence. The Russian Ambassador had communicated at once with his Government and had come in this morning to say to him that the Soviet Union proposed an immediate conference to take place in Bucharest between representatives of the Soviet Union, Poland, France, England, and Yugoslavia to arrange methods of mutual protection.
Bonnet commented that as usual the Russians had put their feet in the platter. They must know that the Rumanians could not accept any such conference in Bucharest and this might be merely Litvinov’s easy way of getting around the question he had put to the Soviet Ambassador. He added that this proposal was most secret and asked me to keep it entirely private.
Bonnet said that he had talked with the Yugoslav Minister and had been in constant contact with the British who were also in contact with the Soviet Union, Poland, Rumania, and Yugoslavia.
(Both Wilson37 and I talked today on different occasions with the Rumanian Ambassador here and with the Rumanian Counselor of Embassy. The Counselor of Embassy assured Wilson that Germany’s economic demands on Rumania had taken the form of a virtual ultimatum. The Rumanian Ambassador said to me that what Germany had demanded was all the grain of Rumania for 4 years and [Page 80] all her oil production, the turning over to Germany of plants connected with the oil production which were now in the hands of foreigners, some of them Americans, and the right to Germany to develop and exploit new oil fields in Rumania without that Rumanian Government having any control over the German development and exploitation of those.
He said that this demand had been considered incompatible with the maintenance of Rumanian independence and that Rumania had refused it. He added that the Germans had not pushed this demand and that the negotiations now in progress were proceeding in a polite manner and that he believed they would reach a successful conclusion. It was in Rumania’s interest to sell her oil and wheat to Germany and the only point to be guarded was the point of Rumanian independence and sovereignty.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I then asked if Rumania would be prepared to receive assistance from the Soviet Union. The Rumanian Ambassador replied to this question in exactly the same words that the Polish Ambassador had used to me when I put the same question to him with regard to Poland 2 days ago.
Both Ambassadors said, “In time of peace we cannot make any agreement whatsoever to permit Russian troops to enter our territory or to receive assistance in the form of munitions, guns, tanks, or airplanes from the Soviet Union; but in time of war we would be ready to take help from the devil himself.”
I believe that these identical replies of the two Ambassadors represent accurately the prevailing opinion in Poland and Rumania. Neither country will dare to make a deal with the Soviet Union for fear of too greatly offending Germany; but both countries in case of necessity will welcome the Soviet Union’s aid.)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bonnet concluded our conversation by saying that he and all members of the Government were deeply grateful for the attitude which the Government of the United States had taken during the past few days.38 The acts and words of the American Government had given all the support to the democracies that anyone could conceivably have hoped for.