760C.61/1073: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 6—5:23 p.m.]
3163. The Foreign Office, while avoiding any tendency toward over-optimism that the Polish-Soviet break is one that can easily be patched up, considers Stalin’s reply to the questions submitted to him jointly by the New York Times and the London Times to be decidedly helpful. Sikorski’s answering statement69 which he issued somewhat on the spur of the moment upon the insistence of the New York Times, Strang says “might have been worse”. The Poles when asked why they did not wait and give the wording of any public statement issued more careful thought informed the Foreign Office that any such delay would have necessitated consultation with various members of their Government which would probably have rendered any statement which finally emerged from the heat of discussion less conciliatory than Sikorski’s declaration for the New York Times.
Strang says there is still no solution to Poland’s search for a protecting power though thought is now being given to the possibility [Page 414] of selecting either Canada or Australia or the two jointly. If the exploration of this possibility proves negative, Norway or Holland may take on the job. One difficulty is the question of adequate personnel at Moscow in view of the volume of detailed work that may be involved. Another important practical problem, Strang said, is to find a formula of just who are Poles to be “protected” in view of the wide divergence on this question between the Soviet and Polish Governments. He said at any rate he understood that Romer and his Embassy have been given an additional week to prepare for their departure and one should not entirely exclude the possibility of patching the matter up before the Polish Embassy actually departs. As to possible Polish action to facilitate a settlement, he said that Sikorski might be willing to make some changes in his Government though it was difficult to do this under pressure. He added that as a matter of fact most of the violent Polish Russophobes were in the ranks of the opposition to Sikorski’s Government. Incidentally, he added that the break with Russia had strengthened Sikorski’s position internally with his own people.
Strang seemed resigned to our decision that it would be inadvisable for the United States to assume the role of protecting power and made no comment other than to indicate he was not surprised.
- See telegram Polish Series No. 30, May 6, 10 p.m., from the Ambassador to the Polish Government in Exile, infra. ↩