740.0011 European War 1939/22126
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)93
The Minister of Finland called this afternoon to see me at his request.
The Minister was obviously perturbed by the declaration of war, unanimously approved by the Congress, upon Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria.94 He referred to this and inquired whether any change of policy on the part of the United States towards Finland was contemplated. I told the Minister that the policy of this Government towards his country had been made very clear in conversations which he had had with Secretary Hull and myself. He said that he had learned of the visit to Washington recently of a “distinguished visitor”,95 and asked whether there was any evidence that the Soviet Government was pressing the United States to change its policy towards Finland. I answered that the policy of the United States was determined by this Government, and was not formulated as a result of pressure from any other government. He said that, of course, recent Soviet negotiations with Great Britain96 had created profound disquiet in Finland, where the fact that these negotiations had taken place was generally known, and that if it were known that the United States had held similar conversations with Soviet officials of the highest rank, that would create far greater disquiet in his country.
I said that I had just learned of the visit of Hitler to Field Marshal Mannerheim in Finland,97 and that this visit could only be interpreted as meaning that Germany was demanding that Finland cooperate with Germany in some new offensive action against the Soviet Army, presumably towards Murmansk and Archangel in order to cut off the flow [Page 64] of British and American war materials to the Soviet Union through those ports. I said that, as Secretary Hull and I had both informed the Minister, if the Government of Finland were now to undertake to give open and direct assistance to Germany against the Soviet Union, such action would necessarily and immediately result in a complete change of policy on the part of the United States. I said: “It seems to me that your Government must, therefore, realize that whether or not the policy of the United States towards Finland changes depends on Finland herself.”
The Minister spoke at some length of the desirability, from the standpoint of the United States, of having an intact and independent Finland as an island of order and of democracy in the chaos which would exist in Europe if Germany were defeated and the Soviet Union were to be the victor. I said that our feelings with regard to the Finnish people had been demonstrated in many practical ways upon repeated occasions, and that the United States most certainly desired to see a world of the future in which small countries could live at peace and in security. I said that the apparently increasing willingness of Finland to permit herself to be used by Germany, and apparently to be occupied more and more as the weeks passed by German troops, could only bring about a revulsion on the part of the American people towards the Finnish people, with consequences which I felt would be disastrous to the people of Finland. I said that the victory of Germany could only mean utter annihilation and ruin for every ideal for which the Finnish people have striven since 1918, and that I trusted no decision would now be made by the Government of Finland which would result in a change of policy by the Government of the United States toward the people of Finland.
- The substance of this conversation was sent to the Minister in Finland in telegram No. 122, June 8, 8 p.m.↩
- On June 5, 1942. For correspondence regarding recognition of a state of war with these countries, see pp. 833 ff.↩
- Negotiations on the occasion of the visit of V. M. Molotov in Washington (May 29–June 4, 1942) are described in vol. iii, pp. 566–583, 585–587.↩
- Treaty of Alliance in the War against Hitlerite Germany and Her Associates in Europe, and Collaboration and Mutual Assistance Thereafter, signed at London on May 26, 1942; for text, see League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. cciv, p. 353; for draft of treaty and subsequent changes, see telegrams No. 2897, May 24, and No. 2922, May 26, from the Ambassador in the United Kingdom, Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. iii, pp. 558 and 564, respectively. For correspondence regarding the conversations leading to the conclusion of this treaty, see ibid., pp. 490–566, passim.↩
- Adolf Hitler and party had been in Finland from soon after noon until about 6:30 p.m., on June 4, 1942, on the occasion of the 75th birthday of Field Marshal Mannerheim. Conversations between Government leaders were also reported to have taken place.↩