Editor’s Note

—No official record pertaining to this conversation has been found. Byrnes (Speaking Frankly, page 85) states that he told Molotov on July 31 that there were three outstanding issues at the Conference: reparations from Germany, Polish administration of a part of the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany, and admission of Italy and the Balkan states to the United Nations. He states further that he submitted a proposal containing the only concessions which the United States was willing to make;3 that he asked Molotov to present “the three proposals” to Stalin so that they might be considered at the meeting of the Heads of Government on July 31; that the United States “would agree to all three or none”; and that he and Truman would leave for the United States the next day.4

  1. This may refer to a paper on reparations from Germany. See post, p. 512, footnote 2. The United States position on the other two questions at issue had been given to Molotov by Byrnes on July 30. See documents Nos. 731 and 1152, post, and see ante, p. 480.
  2. Cf. Byrnes, All in One Lifetime, p. 302.