Lot 60–D 224, Box 59: Stettinius Diary
Extracts from the Personal Diary of the Under Secretary of State (Stettinius)
Midnight Telephone Conversation with Gromyko
At midnight Gromyko phoned me at home. He was in a good humor and said he had had a good day of rest on Sunday. He then said that we must finish our conversations with them before we start with any other country and said we had agreed to this on Saturday. I replied that he was entirely correct and asked if anything had appeared to make him feel we were planning to do otherwise. He said, “No, nothing has happened”. My answer apparently completely satisfied him. I was mystified, however, by his calling at this hour to make this point, fearing something might have appeared in the press [Page 794] or radio, as a result of taking the Chinese to Virginia, which had made him apprehensive. He then said he expected there would be a little delay in his hearing from home but that it would be unfair to consider this was caused by the Soviet Union, because we were partially responsible for having made so many changes in the text, which his Government would have to study. I did not press the Ambassador to try to pin him down as to exactly when he thought he would have the final instructions from his Government. He inquired whether we would meet today and I said I did not think we could accomplish much until either he or Sir Alexander had something to report. He replied jokingly “Or you have something to report”. It was left that we would not call a meeting but would check with each other during the morning.
Telephone Conversation with Mr. Hull
I called Mr. Hull at 9:00 o’clock. First I spoke to Mrs. Hull and described to her our Sunday trip to Virginia. Then I told the Secretary about Gromyko’s midnight call. I told him that, as I saw it, all we could do at the moment was to stand by and await developments.…
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Meeting with Sir Alexander
I had a private talk with Sir Alexander immediately after lunch. He raised with me the great importance to him of returning to the United Kingdom by the end of this week. In view thereof, he urged us to start with the Chinese immediately and asked if I would have any objections if he spoke frankly to Gromyko about it this afternoon. I, of course, assured him that I would not.…
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