711.61/816½
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
The Soviet Ambassador called to see me today by instruction of his Government. The Ambassador stated that he had not previously [Page 780] been authorized to make any request for assistance of the Government of the United States, but, in view of the official statement I had made to him in our previous interviews as to the views and policy of this Government with regard to the German-Russian conflict, he was gratified to be able to say to me that his Government had been deeply satisfied with the statements made to the Ambassador here and had consequently authorized him to present, as he now did, a general statement of the immediate requirements of the Soviet Government.
The Ambassador handed me a memorandum which contained nine points,18 all of them couched in general terms. I told the Ambassador that these points would be given immediate consideration by the appropriate authorities of this Government, but that I thought I should say to him without delay that our consideration of this request would be greatly facilitated and expedited if the general statements made under each heading could be broken down in the greatest detail possible. The Ambassador assured me that this would immediately be done and further informed me that Amtorg representatives had been instructed by him to remain here in Washington to place themselves completely at the disposal of the proper officials of the United States so that every particle of information desired could be made immediately available.
I said that I understood that Mr. Acheson had already explained to the Ambassador the special machinery which had been set up in the Department of State to deal with the Soviet question and the Ambassador said he had in fact spent two hours the day before with Mr. Curtis, who had informed him, on behalf of Mr. Acheson, of these facts. The Ambassador expressed great appreciation of the steps taken in this regard.
I said to the Ambassador that I was informed that he was already in contact with Mr. Acheson’s office regarding the lists submitted by the Soviet Government prior to the outbreak of hostilities with Germany and that it was my understanding that there were various items on these lists to which favorable consideration was being given.
The Ambassador then hesitated and said that he had forgotten a very important part of the conversation which he had been instructed to have with me and that was the method of financing the orders which the Soviet Government desired to place here. He stated that he had been instructed to ask whether this Government would be willing to give favorable consideration to the granting to the Soviet Union of a five-year credit for the payment of the orders which it hoped to be able to place in the United States. He said that in his own opinion this was preferable to any operations under the Lend-Lease Act and in fact was a renewal of a matter which had been [Page 781] under discussion between the two Governments in 1933.19 I replied to the Ambassador that this was a question which I would wish to submit to the Secretary of the Treasury20 and other officials of the Government for an expression of their views before I could give him any expression of my own opinion with regard to this suggestion. I said that I would take the matter up and give the Ambassador some reply as soon as it was possible.
I again brought up the desire of this Government that the opportunity be given to our military attachés to accompany the Russian command in order to obtain first-hand information of the hostilities in progress and also the urgent need of giving the American press facilities for getting accurate information for the benefit of the American public. The Ambassador stated that he was heartily in sympathy with both requests and that he would immediately cable his Government again with regard to these two matters and that he thought he could with safety assure me that the two requests would be granted.
I stated to the Ambassador that I was entirely at his disposal with regard to any urgent matters which might come up and he could feel free to call upon me at any time.
- Not found in Department files.↩
- For correspondence concerning recognition of the Soviet Union by the United States in 1933 and subsequent negotiations concerning claims and credits, see Foreign Relations, The Soviet Union, 1933–1939, pp. 1–218.↩
- Henry Morgenthau, Jr.↩