764.7115/37
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The Minister of Hungary87 called this morning at his request. The Minister read to me an instruction received from his Government asking whether the Government of the United States would be prepared, at such time and in such manner as might be considered appropriate, to convince the Government of Rumania that in her own interest it was desirable to come to an agreement with Hungary for the rectification of the frontier in Transylvania. The Minister said that he was instructed further to say that while Hungary did not intend to resort to any measures of force to obtain a return of its minorities in Transylvania, it nevertheless would reserve its right to full action in the event that Rumania made any territorial concessions to any other nation.
I asked the Minister whether this referred to concessions to Russia with regard to Bessarabia, or whether it referred solely to concessions in the Dobruja to Bulgaria.
The Minister said that his instructions on this point were not clear, but that he felt I could safely draw the inference that the question contemplated concessions to Bulgaria.
I told the Minister that I was not prepared to give him a reply to this inquiry without first discussing it with the Secretary of State, but that it was clearly my impression that the Secretary of State would feel as I did that, anxious as the United States Government was for a peaceful and fair solution of all controversies in Europe, it could not inject itself into political questions of this purely European character.
The Minister seemed to be quite prepared for this indication as I gave it to him personally, and I said that upon learning what the Secretary’s views might be, I would again communicate with him.
- John Pelényi.↩