711.60D/303a
Memorandum by the Secretary of State to President Roosevelt
Despite the efforts which this Government has made during the past two years to impress upon the Finns the importance of arriving at a peace settlement with the Soviet Union and the danger of continued collaboration with Germany, the Finnish Government has now rejected the Soviet peace offer with no request to continue negotiations. There now seems little prospect that the present Finnish Government will reopen negotiations before it is too late to do so. There also seems to be no prospect of the Soviet Government giving to the Finns new terms at this time.
As we have exhausted all other means at our disposal to influence Finland I believe you will now want to consider breaking diplomatic relations. A break at this time would, in my opinion, weaken the authority of the present Finnish Government and in the long run strengthen the hand of the peace activists in Finland even though one immediate result of the break might be the replacement of the present Government by one even more Nazi collaborationist. I am sure that a break would be well received in the Soviet Union and obviously it would also reduce the chances of United States involvment in the final settlement which must take place between Finland and the Soviet Union. Certain sections of our populations, however, particularly Finnish-Americans and other elements whose backgrounds are rooted in the smaller nations of Eastern Europe, might feel that our reaction resulted solely from Soviet pressure. On the other hand, not to break relations in the face of the recent Finnish action would be interpreted as signs of indecision on our part and of lack of unity of purpose among the major allies.
If you approve of the break,19 I suggest that we bring it about very shortly after the issuance of the Anglo-American-Soviet declaration20 regarding the German satellite nations which I anticipate will be issued in a few days.
In the event of a break, I also propose for security reasons to segregate the Finnish Legation staff until their departure from this country.
- President Roosevelt’s reply reached Secretary Hull about May 18 and was to the effect that no action should be taken for the time being.↩
- The Declaration by the American, British, and Soviet Governments Regarding the Four Axis Satellites was made on May 12, 1944. For text, see Department of State Bulletin, May 13, 1944, p. 425.↩