711.61/786½
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Henderson)
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Section II
The Gorin Case
Mr. Welles informed the Ambassador in the course of their conversation today that he was sorry to hear that there seemed to be some land of a misunderstanding on the part of the Soviet Government with regard to the Gorin case. He had received a telegram from Mr. Steinhardt to the effect that Mr. Lozovski had informed Mr. Steinhardt that in return for the release of Gorin only two American citizens, namely, Pyk and Roszkowski, were to be released. Mr. Lozovski had intimated that the Soviet Government had made no promises to release Devenis or to permit the Soviet wives of American citizens to leave the Soviet Union in return for the release of Gorin. Lozovski had said that these other cases had been mentioned only in a most casual way by the Soviet Ambassador in his telegrams. Mr. Welles said that he desired to point out again that the American Government had taken most unusual steps in order to obtain the release of Gorin and it had done so with the understanding that the Soviet Government would adopt a generous attitude with regard to all American citizens in jail in the Soviet Union, and also with regard to the Soviet wives of [Page 949] American citizens and their children who were endeavoring to obtain permission to leave the country.
The Soviet Ambassador said that it had been his understanding that the Soviet Government had definitely promised to release only Pyk and Roszkowski. The case of Devenis had not been mentioned to him until the conversation which had taken place just before the release of Gorin, when Mr. Henderson had referred to it. It was true that the question of the Soviet wives had been brought up during the course of the Gorin conversations but he had made no definite commitments with respect to them. He had received, however, a telegram from Mr. Lozovski which caused him to believe that the Soviet Government was considering the release of various Soviet wives of American citizens although it was not considering favorably the release of Mr. Devenis. The Soviet Government considered Devenis to be a Soviet citizen.
Mr. Welles stated that the American Government had acted in a most generous way with respect to Gorin and not in a spirit of bargaining, and he was sure that the Soviet Government would reciprocate in its treatment of American citizens in prison in the Soviet Union and in the cases of Soviet wives.
Mr. Henderson said that although the Soviet Government considered Devenis to be a Soviet citizen, the American Government had taken the position that he was an American citizen and furthermore, since he had never been a Lithuanian citizen and had never been recognized by the Lithuanian Government as being a Lithuanian citizen, the American Government could not understand the basis for Soviet claims that he was a Soviet citizen. Mr. Henderson added that during the conversations, the Department had not emphasized any particular names; it had referred to such names as Pyk, Roszkowski, Devenis, Habicht, and so forth, merely in an illustrative manner. The American Government had not endeavored to drive a hard and fast bargain. It had acted in a generous manner with regard to the Gorin case with the understanding that if it did so, an atmosphere would be created in Moscow which would permit the release of all American citizens in prison, as well as the departure of Soviet wives and their children. This question of Soviet wives had been a disturbing element in the relations of the two governments for a number of years. It was hoped that the Soviet Government would take this occasion to remove this element once and for all.40
The Ambassador said that he would send Mr. Gromyko41 to the Department tomorrow in order to obtain from Mr. Henderson a list of [Page 950] the Soviet wives of American citizens. Mr. Henderson said that he did not believe that the Department had a complete up-to-date list. He understood, however, that Mr. Steinhardt had such a list and had presented it already to the Soviet Government. The Ambassador said that Mr. Gromyko desired to discuss other matters with Mr. Henderson anyway and would call on him tomorrow.
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