711.60D/55
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The Minister of Finland called to see me this morning at his request. The Minister began the conversation by asking what opinion I had with regard to relations between Finland and the United States at this moment.
I replied that, as he knew, I had been away for the better part of a month and since my return I had been so occupied with urgent problems that I had not had any opportunity to acquaint myself with recent developments regarding Finland.
The Minister went into a very long and exceedingly rambling conversation which always came back to the expression of his hope that relations between Finland and the United States would not deteriorate and that there would be nothing like a severance of relations between the two countries.
I again and again reiterated the same basic principle, namely, that in as much as the United States was now engaged in war it was impossible for it to consider maintaining normal or understanding relations with any country which was actively assisting the Axis powers.
The Minister insisted that his Government had officially stated to the United States that it would not participate in any way in the war between the United States and Germany.
I repeated that if Finland was actively engaged in assisting Germany in fighting Russia that obviously constituted active assistance on the part of Finland to the enemy of the United States.
I made it clear that because of our traditional friendship for the Finnish people we had so far undertaken a very patient and forbearing policy towards Finland, but that if Finland were now to embark upon major offensive operations against the Soviet Union, it would [Page 38] inevitably give rise to a situation which I was sure the Minister and I would regard as regrettable.
The Minister endeavored, as usual, to get me to give him a detailed statement as to how far Finland could undertake military operations against the Soviet Union without being regarded as going beyond the bounds of what this country would stand. To this I consistently replied that the statements I had already made on this and previous occasions and the statements made to the Minister by the Secretary of State made perfectly clear beyond the shadow of any misapprehension the position of this Government in that regard.
The Minister likewise endeavored to get me to give him some information with regard to the conversations between Stalin46 and Mr. Eden. I said that I regretted that I was not in a position to give him any information on that point.
The Minister handed me a copy of the address made by the President of Finland at the opening of the present session of the Finnish Parliament which is attached herewith.47