740.0011 European War 1939/20297: Telegram
The Chargé in the United Kingdom ( Matthews ) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 13—6:35 p.m.]
1200. While my own knowledge of Russian mental processes in general and those of Stalin in particular is nil, I feel that I should bring to the Department’s attention the fact that British anxiety over the dangers of failure to meet Stalin’s territorial claims and to meet them promptly is growing. Various officials in the Foreign Office have raised this question in conversation with me during the past several days. They have expressed some worry lest “fear of public reaction in the United States” and a sense in our country that concessions of the nature asked would mark an inauspicious beginning for the Atlantic Charter may result in our taking a firm stand against British agreement with Stalin. They are still bitterly conscious that “to their minds” their own haggling tactics “during the 1939 negotiations—and over these very Baltic States—were the real cause of Stalin’s agreement with the Germans.[”?]
Either rightly or wrongly there is a strong feeling here that Stalin’s suspicions of British intentions toward Russia and his knowledge of the long standing dislike of the British ruling classes for all he has stood for may ripen into deep conviction. Once this happens, they say, Stalin can and will revise his policy. While it may not be possible for him to make an immediate peace “or truce” with Hitler, runs their thought, he might well reach some arrangement a little later on or at least demonstrate a lack of enthusiasm toward the war in other areas with possible far reaching results. Their fears are more general than specific but they are nonetheless real and they do take a very pessimistic view of the possibilities of the situation.
The Foreign Office is likewise extremely curious to learn what line the President is taking with Litvinov.66
- The Department advised the Chargé in its telegram No. 1173 of March 20, 1942, that “the President has already made known his views with regard to this to the British Ambassador”.↩