860c.01/6–2645: Telegram
No. 489
The Acting
Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the
Soviet Union (Harriman)
us urgent—niact
1425. Dept would appreciate receiving your reactions to the British Government’s suggestion contained in London’s telegram repeated to you as no. 2191 that recognition be accorded when the new Warsaw Government notifies the three Governments that it has been established in conformity with the Yalta agreement and it has added a pledge in the message of notification that it will hold free elections.
It is clear from the Yalta declaration that the new Government “shall be pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elections” and that the new Government “has been properly formed in conformity with the above”. Any reasonable interpretation of the Yalta agreement shows that the question of the pledge to hold elections is a condition to recognition. Are you of the opinion that the pledge given by Bierut is sufficient to cover this point or do you feel that we should agree with the British suggestion? As an alternative we might put into the message the Secretary is to send to the Foreign Minister a sentence indicating that we understand that the formation of the new Government is a preliminary step and that in conformity with the Yalta agreement we understand that this new Government is pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as possible. The press has been asking whether we have already received a definite pledge from the new Government regarding elections and therefore we must be prepared to make some concrete statement on this point. Dept would appreciate receiving an early reply.
[Page 726]Text of suggested message from the Secretary to the Polish Foreign Minister is contained in my immediately following telegram.2
Repeated to London as 5202.
- Document No. 488.↩
- Not printed. Cf. enclosure 1 to document No. 496.↩