121.8 Hopkins, Harry/5–2145
No. 22
Memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation
Subject: Mr. Hopkins’ trip to Moscow
| Participants: | Secretary Stettinius; |
| Acting Secretary, Mr. Grew |
I telephoned the Secretary1 this afternoon to let him know that Mr. Harry Hopkins is going to Moscow with Ambassador Harriman, and I said that we wanted to keep that fact quiet until Mr. Hopkins [Page 23] arrived in Moscow. The Secretary inquired whether they were leaving together and I replied that the Ambassador is leaving today and Mr. Hopkins is going in a couple of days with Mr. Bohlen. I said that Ambassador Harriman had wanted to clear it with the Secretary but it had come to a head very quickly. I added that I thought such a visit would be very helpful since Mr. Hopkins seemed to have Stalin’s confidence. I stated that the President had approved the visit; he had tried to reach the Secretary on the telephone to discuss this matter but had not been able to get to him. The President had therefore asked me to inform the Secretary. Mr. Stettinius said that he thought it was an excellent arrangement and definitely the right thing to do. He inquired how long Mr. Hopkins expected to stay and I replied that he would remain only a short time. The Secretary asked whether Mr. Hopkins would discuss the entire situation with Stalin, and I replied that he would. The Secretary then asked whether there had been any reply from Stalin with regard to the Big Three meeting and I said that there had not been, adding that the President seems to feel that he can’t attend such a meeting until after the end of the fiscal year.
- Stettinius was at San Francisco attending the United Nations Conference on International Organization.↩