860H.00/1496: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador to the Yugoslav Government in Exile (MacVeagh), at Cairo
3. [Yugoslav Series.] Your Yugos[lav Series] 7.83 With reference to the final paragraph of your telegram you may find the following statement which was made available to the press on December 9 (to be used entirely as background and not attributed to any official of this government) of interest:
“The Yugoslav people have demonstrated to the whole world their determination to regain their independence and to drive the Axis forces from their country. With inhuman cunning the Nazis strove to divide this people against itself, by partitioning its territory, by establishing conflicting authorities maintained by violence and terror, and by incitement to the lowest passions of civil strife.
It is natural that in repelling an enemy operating with every method of violence and deception, the organizers of Yugoslav resistance [Page 1039] should also seek to utilize every regional advantage, every social group, and every skillful and daring leader. Whatever their differences may be, their ultimate purpose is to drive out the enemy and to restore the institutions of free government.
The King and the Government of Yugoslavia, now temporarily established at Cairo, are recognized by all the United Nations as the authority conducting Yugoslavia’s participation in the general conduct of the war. Within the country resistance movements under diverse leadership have grown into forces of undoubted military value. In the circumstances it is natural that political factors should also play a part. It is our intention to assist in every possible way the resistance of the Yugoslav people, and to deal with the resistance forces from the point of view of their military effectiveness, without, during the fighting, entering into discussions of political differences which may have arisen among them, and which tend to divert the national energies from the main objective of expelling the Nazis from their country. In line with our consistent policy we consider that political arrangements are primarily a matter for the future choice of the Yugoslav people.
Meanwhile every means is being utilized to obtain factual and objective information on all aspects of the situation in Yugoslavia, for use in the prosecution of the war.”