740.0011 Pacific War/1047: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Thurston) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:06 p.m.]
2504. The noncommittal attitude with respect to the American-Japanese war that has been maintained by Soviet officials and the Soviet [Page 1028] press since the outbreak of hostilities (during which time Lozovski58 has held no press conferences) has finally been changed by the appearance of an editorial on the subject in Pravda. Excerpts from this editorial as reprinted in today’s local paper are contained in a telegram bearing the next succeeding number.59
Inasmuch as a Pravda editorial must be assumed to express and lay down official policy it is of especial significance that this document states bluntly that the Japanese attacked us “treacherously and without warning” and that the negotiations in progress in Washington at the time of the attack “were obviously for the purpose of making the preparation for this treacherous attack”. It is also of much interest that definite assertions regarding the outcome of the war are made, such as that despite initial successes “the Japanese invader has leaped into a very risky adventure which does not forebode him anything except ruin” and that “Japan will incontestably be defeated”.