861.24/642
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
| Participants: | The President, the Secretary of State, Mr. Harry Hopkins, and the Soviet Ambassador, Mr. Constantine A. Oumansky |
The Soviet Ambassador called on the President at the former’s request. The Secretary of State and Mr. Harry Hopkins were also present.
The Ambassador brought up the matter of Soviet requests for credit, war materials, and supplies, which included a request to apply our lease-lend policy to Russia. The President explained in some detail to the Ambassador the extreme difficulty of getting the necessary authority from Congress on account of the prejudice or hostility to Russia and the unpopularity of Russia among large groups in this country who exercise great political power in Congress. The President also referred to the fact that Russia does have churches and does permit religious worship under the Constitution of 1936. He suggested that if Moscow could get some publicity back to this country regarding the freedom of religion87 during the next few days without waiting for the Harriman mission to reach Moscow, it might have a very fine educational effect before the next lease-lend bill comes up in Congress. The Ambassador agreed that he would attend to this matter.
[Page 833]The President then said that to get a lease-lend proposal for Russia through Congress, we should have an official statement showing Russian assets, the amount of gold and also barter that could be carried on between the two countries both now and after the war. The President also stated that maximum quantities of manganese, chromium and other commodities of use to the United States could be purchased and paid for now, with the understanding that production and delivery would not necessarily take place until after the war.
The Ambassador said that his Government would still prefer to effect adequate arrangements to secure the maximum of military supplies within the minimum of time, which might involve the financial cooperation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation under Jesse Jones, or an advance from the stabilization fund of the Treasury Department, but if it were impossible now to make such arrangements as were necessary, then the Soviet Government very earnestly would ask for lease-lend aid. Mr. Hopkins referred to possible aid to the extent of fifty million dollars in the form of a credit from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and the Ambassador replied that he had not been able to work out any barter arrangements or perfect other plans that provided for post-war payments and that no agreements with Mr. Jones had been thus far reached. He referred to the fact that his Government had borrowed ten million dollars from the Treasury Department by putting up gold as collateral.
The Ambassador, adopting a most serious tone, said that Moscow today is bitter about the credit situation. The Soviet Government needs one hundred and forty million dollars, whereas the Amtorg Trading Corporation has only one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. He said that he and Jesse Jones could work the barter plan up only to seventy-five million dollars by stretching it in every possible way with respect to the kind and quantity of commodities that might be used by the United States and he again referred to the fact that he had been able to secure only ten million dollars from Mr. Morgenthau88 with gold as security.
It was remarked that there might be a possibility of getting Congressional approval for some method of advancing credits to the Soviet Union but there was no probability just now of a lease-lend provision for Soviet Russia on account of political difficulties. The Ambassador urged that Russia be granted a credit out of the two billion dollar Treasury stabilization fund and said that its use in this way was permissible.
The upshot of the conversation was that this Government would undertake to perfect credit and barter arrangements to the amount of seventy-five million dollars through the Reconstruction Finance [Page 834] Corporation and other sources, so that the matter would be taken care of for a few months during which time full and adequate arrangements for Russian military supplies might be worked out.