760C.61/21192/4: Telegram
The Ambassador to the Polish Government in Exile (Biddle) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 20—2:47 p.m.]
Polish Series [No.] 84. For the President and the Secretary. At their urgent request I called on Prime Minister Mikolajczyk and Foreign Minister Romer today. They requested me to supplement Mikolajczyk’s letter to the President, given in my 82, November 17, 6 p.m., by an “urgent” message to the President and the Secretary to effect that the Polish Government was insistent on being consulted in advance of any decisions that might be taken involving Polish interests. Decisions without full consultation with the Polish Government upon which the “underground” in Poland staked its hopes, they emphasized, would undoubtedly lead to a serious crisis in that quarter. Besides it would be bound to create a crisis in Polish circles here and also in the Middle East. One could not exclude, moreover, the possibility of serious repercussions among the Americans of Polish origin and extraction. Even a man condemned to death, Mikolajczyk interjected, was granted a last word before the court.
Romer went on to say that Mr. Eden had in mind advancing a formula which, as near as he could understand, envisaged dividing Poland into regions in which respectively the military administration of the “liberating forces” and the Polish Government might function. It was only logical to suppose that whatever formulae were advanced would meet with counterproposals and the Polish Government considered it of utmost importance that its representative be on hand [Page 486] at the time of these discussions. Besides they would like to know also the American reactions and views as well as those of the British.
In conclusion Mikolajczyk said that in urging that the President receive him he could assure me that he would guard his presence at any given place in secrecy; that he realized the difficulties confronting the western Allies at this point, and that he wanted to be as helpful as possible in the matter. In this latter connection, he said, there were things he could present orally that he could not at this time put in writing.