Office of the Historian

Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Stettinius) to President Roosevelt 3

Washington, November 8, 1944.

United States Interests and Policy in Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the Near East

While the Government of the United States is fully aware of the existence of problems between Great Britain and the Soviet Union, this Government should not assume the attitude of supporting either country as against the other. Rather, this Government should assert the independent interest of the United States (which is also believed to be in the general interest) in favor of equitable arrangements designed to attain general peace and security on a basis of good neighborship, and should not assume that the American interest requires it at this time to identify its interests with those of either the Soviet Union or Great Britain.

In Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the Near East, as elsewhere, the United States Government should consistently maintain and actively endeavor to further the following general principles irrespective of the type of territorial or political settlements which may result from the war:

1.
The right of peoples to choose and maintain for themselves without outside interference the type of political, social, and economic systems they desire, so long as they conduct their affairs in such a way as not to menace the peace and security of others.
2.
Equality of opportunity, as against the setting up of a policy of exclusion, in commerce, transit and trade; and freedom to negotiate, [Page 1026] either through government agencies or private enterprise, irrespective of the type of economic system in operation.
3.
The right of access to all countries on an equal and unrestricted basis of bona fide representatives of the recognized press, radio, newsreel and information agencies of other nations engaged in gathering news and other forms of public information for dissemination to the public in their own countries; and the right to transmit information gathered by them to points outside such territories without hindrance or discrimination.
4.
Freedom for American philanthropic and educational organizations to carry on their activities in the respective countries on the basis of most-favored-nation treatment.
5.
General protection of American citizens and the protection and furtherance of legitimate American economic rights, existing or potential.
6.
The United States maintains the general position that territorial settlements should be left until the end of the war.

  1. Copy obtained from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N. Y.↩