760D.61/1313: Telegram

The Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State

143. Minister for Foreign Affairs has just completed radio announcement in Finnish and Swedish, announcing conclusion of peace at Moscow effective 11:00 this morning;9 outlined general terms, details not yet available pending return Finnish delegation, but substantially establishing same frontier treaty of Nystad 1721;10 also cession of Hango Peninsula, Finnish portion Fisherman’s Peninsula, Petsamo. Minister gave reasons Government’s decision made peace this time failure Scandinavian States lend effective military aid and their refusal permit passage Allied troops, hence Government deemed best accept Russian terms notwithstanding losses territory since result continued struggle [was] certain while army now undefeated. Minister said unity, strength, industry Finnish people which had been exemplary during hostilities would assure reconstruction since political integrity maintained though territory amputated, Kuusinen régime being cast aside. Past now to be forgotten, people looking to future which will determine whether Government’s policy right or wrong.

Schoenfeld

[The text of a statement by President Roosevelt on the Soviet-Finnish situation, released to the press by the White House on March 13, 1940, is printed in Department of State Bulletin, March 16, 1940, page 295.]

  1. A proclamation by the Finnish Government, published in the press on March 14, 1940, informed the people that hostilities ceased on the preceding day.
  2. Treaty of peace between Russia and Sweden signed at Nystadt on August 30, 1721; for text see Jean Dumont, Corps universel diplomatique du droit des gens; … (Amsterdam, 1726–1731), vol. viii, part 2, p. 36.