The Secretary of State to President Roosevelt 58
312031. I sat by Marshal Stalin for 2 hours at his dinner Saturday night.59 I presented to him in the strongest way possible all considerations [Page 691] calling for the joining by him of his leadership and cooperation with that of yourself and Mr. Churchill. At one stage he volunteered to bring up the proposed Basra meeting. In so many words he renewed what he and his associates and advisers considered as compelling military reasons for not going beyond Teheran. He said in effect that we must give him credit for being sincere about this. He then said that he would send the official ranking next to himself in the Soviet Government, namely, Mr. Molotov. He inquired what I thought of him as a substitute. I replied parenthetically that he would do in the sense of understanding the questions that would probably arise, .but that that was not the point from your and my viewpoints, that the important factor was the broad psychological effect throughout the world of the presence at such a meeting of the Marshal himself. I argued the matter further but got no favorable reaction.
The situation relating to the seeming state of mind of the Marshal is that he talks and acts one hundred percent in favor of our new general forward movement of international cooperation in every way which the Four Nation Declaration proclaims, political, economic, military, specially including postwar organization for peace, world order under law, economic benefits, etc., etc. At the same time he is inflexible at this time about attending a meeting with you and Mr. Churchill at any place beyond Teheran. In the circumstances I think it advisable at present to allow our collaboration and cooperation movement launched here to be cemented by increasing methods of contact from the standpoint of closer military relations in various ways and the same as to the political and peace situation including a definite agreement already entered into for preliminary or informal conferences from now on between the United States, Great Britain and Russia to formulate a postwar program including perhaps other methods of cooperation during the interim period. In due course unless his entire sincerity including both words and acts here are false and this is incnvedible [incredible], the Marshal will inevitably come to the point of joining you and Mr. Churchill for the purpose of conference.
There is nothing left as to meeting Mr. Stalin at the moment unless you should have a meeting in any event at some place like Basra and decide to fly to Teheran for a day to meet him, since it is evident that he will not at present take even a day off to fly anywhere beyond Teheran. Should you feel that this is not feasible or desirable you will then seem to have the question of where you will meet with Mr. Churchill and later with the Generalissimo.60 Wherever you meet, at Casablanca [Page 692] or as far west as possible, I think it most important that after inviting Stalin and in event he declines you then invite him to send Molotov and a general of high rank. This matter could become delicate unless even in the face of the Marshal’s attitude you invite Molotov and a military man to your conference. You can cable me both at Teheran and Cairo as to what you may have in mind in the light of the foregoing and other considerations which you already have in mind.