861.24/1343
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by Mr. G. Frederick Reinhardt of the Division of European Affairs
Mr. Graves73 said he was telephoning to provide the Department with the following information with respect to the alleged Soviet reaction, reported in today’s press, to Admiral Standley’s recent press conference74 on the subject of Lend-Lease and other aid to the Soviet Union. Mr. Graves stated that the Federal Communications Commission monitors had intercepted a broadcast from Moscow on March 9 read at dictation speed (therefore, presumably for publication in provincial journals) of an article by Mr. Stettinius which has appeared in the current issue of the American Magazine75 in this country on the subject of Lend-Lease and was published in Izvestia on the same day. He stated further that FCC has no information to confirm press reports that Moscow radio had broadcast Mr. Stettinius’ earlier statement of January 21 or any other subsequent statement and said that the article which was broadcast dealt particularly with deliveries of food and not armaments or munitions. Mr. Graves said that in as much as the article which was broadcast was only published the same day in this country in American Magazine it did not seem reasonable to describe it as a possible reaction to Admiral Standley’s press conference.
[Page 752]Subsequently, the FCC monitor intercepted an instruction from Moscow radio to the provincial papers ordering them to withhold the material previously broadcast for publication, pending an editorial revision which would be forthcoming from Moscow. Mr. Graves stated that FCC would carefully follow this matter with a view to ascertaining whether such a revision would actually be made or whether the instruction was in fact intended to definitively withhold the article from publication.
I thanked Mr. Graves for his courtesy and assured him that the Department would be interested to receive any more information on the subject which might become available.