741.6111/64
Memorandum of Telephone Conversations, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Acheson)
Both yesterday and the day before the Russian Ambassador telephoned me to inquire when he might expect to receive a draft of the second protocol. On each occasion I told him that we were awaiting a reply from London as to whether the language used regarding the British commitments was satisfactory to the British Government and were expecting the answer at any moment.
[Page 724]Today, after a meeting with General Burns and, British representatives, I telephoned to the Ambassador. I told him that I thought we had located the source of the delay. It appeared that some of the language which had been used in the draft, due to haste of drafting, had not been so clear as it might have been. The British had asked for clarification, which had been made and which we confidently expected would produce an early reply. The Ambassador asked when he might expect to receive a copy of the draft. I told him that our hope was that this might occur tomorrow, but in any event within a very short time. I assured him that both the British and we were doing everything possible to expedite the matter.
The Ambassador inquired why we had not used the language of the first protocol, which had already been approved on all sides. I replied that we had a different situation to deal with in that we had been acting under the second proposed protocol for some months and in that Mr. Molotov had asked that his request for additional materials be made a part of the protocol.25 The Ambassador acquiesced that this was a different situation.