740.0011 Moscow/10–1843
Summary of the Proceedings of the Twelfth Session of the Tripartite Conference, October 30, 1943, 4 p.m.
In opening the last formal session of the Conference, Mr. Molotov said there remained the following questions for consideration: (1) the report of the Drafting Committee on the Commissions to be set up; (2) the question of the press communiqué; (3) the Protocol of the Conference to be signed by the three Foreign Secretaries; (4) the time when the communiqué and public declarations were to be released; and (5) the report of the Committee for Iran.
Mr. Eden stated that he would like to say a few words in regard to points 1 and 4 of the declaration regarding general European responsibility as against spheres of separate responsibility.34c He said he thought that the principles expressed in points 1 and 4 would be a valuable addition to the work of the Conference if they could be published.
Mr. Molotov said that he had understood that Mr. Eden had withdrawn his proposal on this question, to which Mr. Eden replied that [Page 680] he had in fact withdrawn his suggestion to embody points 1 and 4 in the Four-Nation Declaration merely to facilitate the final adoption of the latter document.
Mr. Litvinov then said that in his opinion the principles set forth in points 1 and 4 of the British document in question were already embodied in the Atlantic Charter, and since there was no evidence that any of the three powers here was seeking special areas of responsibility or influence he felt that to make a special declaration denying this would give rise to the belief that there had been some such intention on the part of one of the three countries here represented. He also inquired why it was confined only to Europe.
Mr. Eden answered that he felt that there was greater suspicion in that regard on the part of the small nations of Europe, but added that he did not feel he could press the point if there was any objection.
The Secretary said that he was agreeably disposed toward Mr. Eden’s suggestion but he wondered whether there was sufficient time at this closing session of the Conference to consider the question. It was then agreed by the Conference to postpone Mr. Eden’s suggestion until the next conference.
Mr. Vyshinski on behalf of the Drafting Committee said that there had been agreement on all the documents submitted to the Committee with the exception of a few minor points in the draft concerning the Advisory Council for Italy and in the draft of the document regarding peace feelers.34d In regard to the Italian Advisory Council he said there was some difference as to the wording of the last paragraph which dealt with the time of putting into effect the agreed policy in regard to Italy, since the Soviet draft provided that the Commander-in-Chief would only take action in this sphere on the basis of instructions from the combined Chiefs of Staff after consultation between the three Governments.
The Secretary proposed an amendment to alter the last sentence of the last paragraph to read after the words “Chiefs of Staff”: period (punctuation), and the following additional sentence: “The three Governments parties to this declaration will at the request of any one of them consult on this matter.” Mr. Molotov and Mr. Eden accepted the Secretary’s amendment.
Mr. Eden then said that in the declaration regarding common policy toward Italy,34e he would like to eliminate from paragraphs 3 and 4 the words that would indicate that there had been some failure on the part of the British and American Governments to uproot Fascism. He said that to leave those words in would carry an implied censure of Allied policy in Italy which he thought was undeserved.
[Page 681]Mr. Molotov said he felt that the Soviet wording in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the declaration on Italy merely reflected the actual facts since he understood that there were some Fascist institutions such as sport organizations still in existence. He agreed, however, in deference to Mr. Eden and Mr. Hull to eliminate these references as requested.
Mr. Molotov in regard to the declaration on German atrocities34f then stated that it was not clear in the Russian text whether the names of the three Heads of Government were to appear.
The Secretary said that he understood that it was to be issued under the name of President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin; that it was their desire that it be merely made public by the Conference.
In reporting on the draft of the peace feelers agreement Mr. Vyshinski said that there was some difference of opinion as to the wording of the paragraph concerning the applicability of the principle of unconditional surrender by satellite states to those of the three Powers with which they were at war.
The Secretary said that he felt there would be some objection on the part of the United States Government to the present wording since it was obvious that the United States could not recommend unconditional surrender for countries with which it was not at war.
Mr. Eden pointed out in this connection that the principle of unconditional surrender was set forth in the preamble to the Four-Nation Declaration and that therefore there was no inconsistency in including it in the proposed agreement on peace feelers.
The Secretary replied that he felt the general spirit of the Four-Nation Declaration took care of that but that he would be glad to consider the inclusion in the peace feeler draft of the exact wording used in the preamble to the Four-Nation Declaration.
Mr. Molotov then said that the Soviet Government interpreted the statement about unconditional surrender under discussion as meaning that the United States would morally support the Soviet Union and Great Britain as against Finland, and that the Soviet Union would give moral support to the United States and Great Britain as against Bulgaria.
After some further discussion on this point Mr. Molotov agreed to resubmit it to the Drafting Committee and if an acceptable wording could not be found the whole paragraph might be dropped. The Secretary and Mr. Eden agreed to this proposal.
Following the intermission it was decided to sign the Four-Nation Declaration as soon as the Russian and English texts had been compared and that the Chinese Ambassador would be brought into the [Page 682] Conference Room for this purpose. While waiting for the texts to be compared the Conference discussed the question of the exact time of the release.
The Secretary and Mr. Eden said they would like to see the British and American correspondents in Moscow given an opportunity to send their stories several hours in advance of the official announcement in order to assure simultaneous publication in the three capitals.
Mr. Molotov said he was afraid that if this were done the Germans would pick up the stories which would go by radio and would announce to the world some garbled version before the official release. It. was agreed that the press representatives of the three delegations should meet and agree on the time and method of release and the time of making available to the British and American correspondents the documents to be published.
At 6:30 p.m., October 30, 1943, the three Foreign Secretaries and the Chinese Ambassador at Moscow35 signed the Four-Nation Declaration. Soviet newsreel cameramen took pictures of the ceremony.
After the signature the Conference turned to the question of the report of the Committee on Iran.35a
Mr. Eden proposed that the Conference refer this question for discussion in Moscow by Mr. Molotov and the British and American Ambassadors on the basis of a resolution on Iran which he presented to the Conference (copy attached).36
Mr. Molotov said he was agreeable to Mr. Eden’s suggestion to refer the question to diplomatic channels but he felt that Tehran might be a more suitable place than Moscow.
The Secretary said that he also felt that Tehran might be more suitable since all materials and data on the subject would be there and the diplomatic representatives of the three countries might be more closely in touch with the local situation. It was agreed that no publicity would be given to the resolution on Iran and that further discussions would take place between the diplomatic representatives of the three powers in Tehran.
In closing the Conference of the three Foreign Secretaries in Moscow, Mr. Molotov expressed warm appreciation of the unfailing cooperation which he had received from the Secretary and Mr. Eden and to which he in large measure attributed the success of the Conference.
The Secretary said that he was sure he was expressing Mr. Eden’s sentiments when he said that he had never seen a better example of skill and cooperation than Mr. Molotov had displayed during the [Page 683] Conference. He said that he had attended many international conferences but he had never encountered one where the spirit of cooperation and genuine desire to produce fruitful work had been more manifest than at this meeting. This he attributed for the most part to Mr. Molotov’s able direction of the work. He also thanked Mr. Molotov for the unfailing hospitality and the many kindnesses which he and members of the American Delegation had received throughout from the Soviet authorities.
Mr. Eden warmly seconded the Secretary’s remarks and proposed that at any future meetings of the three Foreign Secretaries Mr. Molotov be selected as permanent Chairman.
The Conference ended on this note.
- See Conference Document No. 31, p. 736.↩
- See Conference Documents Nos. 11, 33, and 34, pp. 712, 737, and 738, respectively.↩
- See Conference Documents Nos. 13 and 14, pp. 714 and 715, respectively.↩
- See Conference Document No. 40, p. 741.↩
- Foo Ping-sheung.↩
- Conference Document No. 30, p. 736.↩
- Presumably enclosure 1 to Conference Document No. 27, p. 732.↩