711.60D21/13
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The Minister of Finland called to see me this afternoon at his request.
The Minister asked if I had any views to express to him with regard to the present situation. I said that I wished to let the Minister know that today the American Legation in Helsinki had officially notified the Finnish Government that, in view of the terms of the Finnish Government’s decree of July 17, 1941, and in view of the recent indication given by the Finnish Government that they did not wish to issue an exequatur to Mr. Gleeck, a Foreign Service officer whom this Government had desired to appoint as a consular officer in the consular section of the American Legation in Helsinki, it appeared to be clear that the Finnish Government is not willing to carry out the provisions of the Treaty of Commerce and Friendship between the two countries as it relates to consular officers, and wishes to make it, in practice, impossible for American Consuls to operate in Finland; that in view of these circumstances this Government withdrew its request for the issuance of an exequatur for Mr. Gleeck and would close the consular establishment of the United States in Finland, and reciprocally requested that the Finnish Government close its consular establishments in the United States prior to August 1, next.
The Minister inquired what the reasons for this step might be. I explained to him that one of the basic reasons for this step is the violation by the Finnish Government of the treaty above-mentioned. The Minister inquired whether the action taken by his Government with regard to our consular officers had not also been taken with regard to the consular officers of other Governments, and that consequently the most-favored-nation treatment accorded to the United States by the treaty could not legitimately be regarded as having been violated. I stated that that was not the point at issue, but the violation of the stipulation whereunder the American Consuls stationed in Finland were entitled to do business directly with the local and municipal officials where they were stationed, and that the decree of June [July] 17, 1941, clearly violated this treaty provision.
The Minister thereupon drew out of his portfolio a copy of the pertinent Article and commenced discussing the language of that [Page 71] Article. It is very clear in my mind that the Minister must have had advance notice of the action taken by this Government, since it is highly unlikely otherwise that he would have had this particular Article at hand ready to discuss.
The Minister inquired whether this step on the part of the Government of the United States implied an imminent severance of diplomatic relations, and whether it was intended as a means of bringing pressure to bear upon Finland to make a separate peace. I replied that the question of pressure did not involve the Government of the United States but rather the Government of Germany. I said that if the Government of Finland desired, as I assumed, to maintain relations with the Government of the United States, it would hardly have taken this action with regard to American consular officers except as a result of direct pressure from Germany, and that I deeply regretted that evidence that Finland was operating under German pressure tactics.
I said that insofar as this Government was concerned the step taken represented exactly what I had stated to him—nothing more, nothing less.
I added, however, that it must be apparent to him, as it was to me, that the relations between our two countries were unfortunately degenerating. The Minister insisted that since his last conversation with me in early June the Finns had undertaken no offensive action and had limited themselves strictly to defense. He stated very emphatically that this made it clear that his Government wished at every cost to maintain relations with the United States and to do nothing to jeopardize the friendship between the two countries. I said that I was glad to have this statement from him, but that he himself must realize that as the war progressed it became more and more evident every day to the people of the United States that the Germans were only enabled to make their attacks on Murmansk and the railway and the lines of supply from the Allied powers to Russia by way of Murmansk because they were enabled to operate upon Finnish territory, with the assistance and support of the Finnish military authorities, and consequently American public opinion would feel consistently more clearly that the people of Finland were giving vitally important aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States and were seriously threatening the Soviet Union, a nation joined with the United States in the common determination to defeat Hitlerism. It was perfectly clear, I stated, that a situation of this kind could not continue for very long without very serious results to the relations between Finland and the United States.
I went on to say that the Minister and I had discussed these issues many times before, and that I consequently deeply regretted the course which events seemed to be taking.
[Page 72]The Minister stated that he regretted very much the action which his Government had taken and that he could only assure me again that he had tried consistently to prevent his Government from taking one step more than was strictly necessary to defend Finnish territory against the Russians. He had strongly urged his Government to prevent any press attacks against the United States and to refrain from undertaking any action which could be construed as “pin pricks”. He now regretted the fact that he had sent his Government word with regard to the restrictions placed by this Government upon the movements of himself and of his Legation personnel.
The Minister then cited certain instances where he thought inconsistent treatment had been accorded his Legation personnel, and I said that I was very glad to look into these cases with a view to rectification where I thought rectification was demanded.
The Minister read to me various editorials from Finnish newspapers, all to the effect that Finland was not undertaking any offensive warfare. He said these editorials represented his own point of view.
Before he left, the Minister inquired what the situation would be of those Finnish consular officials in the Consulate General in New York when the Consulate General was closed. He wanted to know whether any of them could be assigned to his Legation as members of his staff, since otherwise he could not, with his present staff, cope with the amount of work that had to be done in connection with the representation of Finnish interests in this country. I said that any request which the Minister might make in this regard would be given very careful consideration.