740.00119 European War 1939/855
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
The British Chargé d’Affaires, Sir Ronald Campbell, came in to see me this morning at his request and left with me a memorandum of an oral communication stating that the British Government were grateful for the action this Government had taken recently both in Washington and in Helsinki with a view to inducing the Finnish Government to cease hostilities against Russia. A copy of this memorandum is hereto attached.39
The Chargé d’Affaires went on to say that the British Government felt that in order to bring about the cessation of hostilities by the Finns it would most probably be necessary to take further steps and that the British Government hope that this Government might find it possible to make an offer to endeavor to obtain terms from the Soviet Government which could be passed on to the Finnish Government on the understanding that the Soviet Government would give an undertaking to this Government to abide by those terms after the war, provided the Finnish Government ceased active hostilities and stood on their present position. If this Government were prepared to act along these lines the British Government inquired whether this Government would be prepared to approach the Soviet Government with a view to obtaining the terms and undertaking to abide by those terms. The Chargé d’Affaires stated that the British authorities realized that such a move would very likely run counter to the usual practice of this Government in refraining from becoming involved to such an extent in matters between two European States, but he felt that no actual guarantee on the part of this Government would in fact be [Page 69] involved, and the undertaking of the Soviet Government would be merely transmitted to the Finnish Government by the United States.
Sir Ronald said that the British Government felt that in order to bring about cessation of hostilities by the Finns, some inducement along these lines would be advisable in order to have the Finnish Government accept the terms and assurances of the Soviet Government.
I told the Chargé d’Affaires that I had called in the Minister of Finland a few days ago and had taken considerable time to impress upon him the attitude of this Government toward the Nazi leaders in their present attempted program of world conquest. At that time I had pointed out to the Minister the policy and acts of the Hitler Government in attacking and occupying any and all countries which stood in the way of his avowed purpose and aim of world conquest. I referred to the absolute control exercised by Hitler over these countries and to the conditions of utter slavery imposed upon them to the extent of completely obliterating their liberties and independence. I mentioned that Hitler had set up puppet governmental organizations to carry out his will without any consideration or regard for the lives of the men, women, and children of the overrun countries.
I had made it clear to the Finnish Minister that any country which accepted collaboration with this conquering force would find itself, in the event of Hitler’s being successful in imposing his program of invasion or control on all countries, entirely subject to the whims and dictates of Hitler as the only friend they had left, and they would find that that so-called friend was demonstratedly faithless and entirely and utterly disposed to disregard the rights and freedoms of all peoples coming under his control.
I explained that I had pointed out to the Finnish Minister the similarity in the present position of Finland with that of Rumania and recalled that just a few weeks ago the Rumanian Chargé d’Affaires,40 under instructions from his Government, had come in to inform me that the Rumanian Government would cease active hostilities against the Soviet Government when Odessa had fallen and the former Rumanian territory had been regained.41 In talking with the Finnish Minister I had taken the position that there is every reason and opportunity for the Finnish Government to cease military activities against the Soviets when the Finns had reached the limit of the old Finnish-Soviet frontier, thus avoiding actively associating themselves with the Hitler program of conquest of other territories for which there would be no justification whatever in the eyes of the world, and which would cause many of the nations which heretofore had had the most friendly attitude toward Finland to question in [Page 70] their own minds the sincerity of the Finnish declarations that the Finns took up arms for the defense and protection of their own rightful territory.
I told Sir Ronald that the Finnish Minister had caught the point of my statements and had said that he would report the conversation fully to his Government. I have not yet had any direct response from the Finnish Minister but we had been informed by the American Minister in Helsinki that he was under the impression that the statement of Mr. Tanner, Finnish Minister of Commerce and Industry, to the effect that the Finns would soon be able to cease hostilities and would stand on a line which they hoped would soon be reached and would not take part in military activities against Leningrad, was the result of my conversation with the Finnish Minister here.
I said to Sir Ronald that in my opinion the most important objective was to bring about the cessation of active military assistance in the attack against the Soviets and that I would give very careful consideration to the communication which he now brought from the British Government. I said, however, that I had gained the impression from the Finnish Minister and from reports of the situation there generally, that the Finns were not in any mood to accept any assurances on the part of the Soviet Government in view of the treatment they had received from the hands of that Government in the recent past and that it was very unlikely that any Finnish Government officials would dare to put themselves in the position of accepting such assurances. I felt, for my part, that we could probably accomplish more by following the line I had already taken with the Finnish Government, and which I had every intention of pursuing even while giving consideration to the British suggestion.
Sir Ronald then stated that the British Government had been informed that the Swedish Minister of Social Relations42 was contemplating a visit to Finland in the near future. The British Government hoped that we might be able to intimate to the Swedish Government that this Minister’s visit to Helsinki might be used as an occasion for the Swedish Government to point out the advisability of the Finns desisting from their military activities against Russia at their present line and awaiting future support for the preservation of their position after the defeat of Germany. I pointed out to the Chargé d’Affaires that our Minister to Stockholm was back in this country at the present time but, for his own confidential information, we were anxious to have arrangements made as soon as possible for our Minister’s return to Sweden and that we would keep this suggestion in mind for consideration at the appropriate time.