740.00112 European War 1939/8–2444: Telegram
The Minister in Sweden (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 24—2:42 p.m.]
3270. Mallet and I saw Foreign Minister Günther at noon by appointment and delivered the joint message from the Secretary and [Page 625] Mr. Eden.59 I then made oral remarks60 in line with the Department’s instructions and these were confirmed and fully supported by Mallet in the name of his Government. A résumé of these remarks will follow in a separate telegram.61 We both made it clear that what our Governments desired was a complete cessation of all trade between Sweden and Germany and that the Swedish Government should take this action not by administrative measures but in such a way that it would declare to the world where Sweden stood and have genuine value as a moral act. Mr. Günther said that he would discuss the message and the oral observations immediately with his colleagues in the Government and would let us have a reply as soon as possible. He then inquired if a similar Anglo-American démarche had been made to Spain, Switzerland and other neutral countries.62 Both Mallet and I replied that we did not know. Mallet took occasion to call Mr. Günther’s attention to a statement made in a speech on August 2 by Prime Minister Churchill63 in which he referred to the postwar position of neutrals and how they, as well as all belligerent countries, would be judged by the stand they took during the war. We both in informal remarks laid emphasis on the almost bewildering speed with which military developments are changing the entire situation. On this observation Mr. Günther agreed.
Madame Kollontay has still not received reply from Moscow to her messages of August 21 but she stated this morning that as she had not yet received a reply, she is prepared to support our démarche under her original instructions and it was understood by Mallet and me that she would request an appointment to see Mr. Günther today.
Toward the close of our interview, I told Mr. Günther that I had heard expressions of opinion in some Swedish quarters that Sweden would be despised if she took affirmative action to declare a stand at this late day. I pointed out that I was quite certain that Sweden would not be despised in my country by reason of any action she took which might speed up the conclusion of the war and contribute toward saving the lives of our soldiers; that on the contrary such Swedish action would be understood and held in profound appreciation in my country. Mallet said that he could say precisely the same thing in regard to reactions in Great Britain and added that in his opinion, the case of Turkey was by no means analogous to Sweden; that Turkey had a treaty with Great Britain and had moreover never [Page 626] been in imminent danger of overwhelming attack from Germany as Sweden had been in the past.
My 941 repeats this to London.
- Infra. ↩
- Post, p. 627.↩
- Telegram 3280, August 24, 6 p.m., not printed.↩
- For correspondence on the effect of American economic warfare policies upon relations with Spain and Switzerland, see pp. 297 ff. and pp. 706 ff., respectively.↩
- For text of speech, see Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 5th series, vol. 402, col. 1474.↩