800.515/1024b: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the
Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)33
Washington, April 25,
1944—2 a.m.
1614. The Secretary of the Treasury has requested that I transmit the
following message to you:
“I am deeply grateful to you for the help you gave us in arranging
matters in Moscow. It was important to be able to inform the
Congressional committees that experts of the United Nations,
including the U.K., the U.S.S.R. and China, have agreed with us on a
Joint Statement recommending the establishment of an International
Monetary Fund.
Please deliver the following personal message to the People’s
Commissar of Finance:
- ‘1. I wish again to express my sincere thanks for your
cooperation and for your friendly consideration of our
views as expressed in my earlier messages to you.
- 2. The Joint Statement was well received in the seven
Congressional committees and particularly in those of
the Senate. The press has given prominence to the Joint
Statement.
- 3. While the text of the Joint Statement will have
reached some governments only recently, the principles
have, of course, been discussed at considerable length
by our and your technical staffs with the technical
experts of some 30 countries. I have no doubt that the
experts of these countries will find themselves
thoroughly familiar with the principles of the Joint
Statement.
- 4. I have discussed with Secretary of State Hull the
further steps that should now be taken. We are agreed
that after informal consultation the following program
should be followed: (a) A
drafting committee of experts from 8 to 10 countries
should be convened in Washington about May 10 to prepare
an agenda and drafts to be considered by a conference.
(b) The formal invitations to
the conference would be sent about May 1. (c) The conference would hold its
first plenary session about May 26.
- The President has informed me that he will appoint me
to head the United States delegation which will include
some members of Congress. It seems to me that if you
could come to the United States at the head of the
Soviet delegation it would provide an excellent
opportunity for us to become acquainted and to go over
our common problems with our colleagues from the United
Kingdom and China. I appreciate that it may be difficult
to be away from Moscow throughout a conference, but it
is my earnest hope that it will be possible for you to
come.
- 5. Meantime we expect to continue our discussions with
the technical experts of the Soviet Government on both
the International Fund and the International
Bank’”
Please transmit the substance of the above message to Molotov and report to
the Department and the Secretary of the Treasury as soon as possible
concerning the reaction of Molotov and Commissar of Finance to the above
message.
