124.75/29a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Albania (Grant)
26. Reference is made to your telegram No. 82, of June 5, 11 p.m. to the effect that you have received a note from the Albanian Minister for Foreign Affairs informing you that the Albanian and Italian Governments concluded an agreement on June 3, 1939 concerning the unification of the diplomatic and consular services of the two countries in accord with which the Albanian Government has decided to abolish its own Foreign Office and to cease to accord henceforth to foreign representatives in Albania the usual privileges and immunities. In view of this decision of the Albanian Government you are instructed orally to inform the appropriate authorities in Tirana that you will close the Legation and depart for the United States.
A subsequent telegram will be sent instructing you with regard to the closing of the Legation and the disposition of the staff.57
Meanwhile, however, I wish to express to you on behalf of the President and myself, our appreciation of the able manner in which you have carried on the duties of American Minister under circumstances of unusual difficulties.
- Instructions not printed. The Minister informed the Department on July 11 that he was closing the office to the public the next week; however, it was not until September 16 that all the business was wound up and the Legation closed (124.75/30, 37, 41).↩