870.00/46
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Memorandum
The British Embassy’s note of conversation of May 30 expresses the view that the best means of preventing any divergence of policy in the Balkans between the Governments of the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union would be in a solution whereby, as a practical matter, Rumanian affairs should be in the main the concern of the Soviet Government, and similarly Greek affairs should, vis-à-vis the Soviet Government, be in the main the concern of the United Kingdom Government. The Embassy then inquires whether the Government of the United States sees any objection to an agreement to this end between the Governments of the United Kingdom and the Soviet [Page 120] Union, and if not, whether the Government of the United Kingdom may so inform the Soviet Government.
The Department has duly noted the Embassy’s observations regarding the practical considerations favoring such an agreement such as the fact that Rumania is within the sphere of operations of the Soviet armies and that Greece is within the Allied Command under General Wilson in the Mediterranean. It has likewise taken note of the intention that the contemplated understanding would apply only to war conditions, without affecting the rights and responsibilities of the principal Allied Governments at the peace settlement, and, afterwards, in regard to Europe generally.
The Department acknowledges that the Government whose military forces are operating in a given territory will in the ordinary course of events take the principal initiative in making decisions affecting that territory, due to the circumstances of the military operations therein. The Department believes that the natural tendency for such initiatives to extend to other than military fields would be strengthened by the conclusion of an agreement of the type suggested. Thus in the Department’s view the proposed arrangements would inevitably result in the persistence rather than the elimination of any divergence in the views of the British and Soviet Governments with regard to the Balkan region and would lead to the division of that region into spheres of influence, despite the declared intention to limit the arrangement to war conditions.
The Department firmly believes that the practical and military advantages sought in resorting to plans of this general nature do not counterbalance the evils inherent in such a system. It is consequently unwilling to give the approval of this Government to the proposed arrangement.
In the Department’s opinion it would be preferable to give attention to the proposals to establish adequate machinery for frank consultation regarding the Balkan region, and thus direct the policies of the Allied Governments along lines of collaboration rather than independent action. The importance which this Government attaches to this policy is especially evident at the present time, when special efforts are being made for concerted action in laying the foundations of a broader system of general security in which all countries great and small will have their part. Any arrangement suggestive of spheres of influence cannot but militate against the establishment and effective functioning of such a broader system.
The President has received a communication on this subject from the Prime Minister, to which he has replied on the foregoing lines.