Office of the Historian

611.6131/615½

Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Welles) to the Acting Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Atherton)

[Washington,] October 23, 1940.

Mr. Atherton: I had a personal conference yesterday with the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Morgenthau tells me that should I consider it desirable, he will approve an exchange of letters between the Soviet Ambassador and myself containing the affirmative assurance of the attitude of this Government regarding gold and silver as contained in the phraseology set forth in the memorandum I attach.8 This, of course, covers completely what Oumansky desired.

I suggest that the necessary correspondence be prepared and that should we make progress in the next few meetings, and always provided that the political status of Russia does not change in the meantime, we can inform Oumansky that this exchange of letters is agreeable to this Government.

  1. Not printed. The phraseology contained in unsigned memorandum of October 17, 1940, gave as the essential wording of the proposed letter “The assurances that no prohibitive or restrictive measures would be applied to export or import of Soviet gold or silver which would not be applied to all other countries.”

    In a letter of July 16, 1941, to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Acting Secretary of State Welles recalled: “In view of certain considerations of an international character the contemplated exchange did not take place.” (611.6131/634a)

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