740.0011 E.W./5–845: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 8—1:30 p.m.]
1209. There is no need for me to emphasize the pernicious significance of Tito’s arguments as set forth in the third paragraph of my 1951, May 5, midnight, from Caserta. The Japs talked in a similar vein before Manchuria, Mussolini pretended to justify the Abyssinian campaign with the same line and this specious refrain ran through Hitler’s “justification” of the entire series of Nazi aggressions. I do not see how we as a nation can meet our responsibilities before the world unless we challenge in no uncertain terms Tito’s championship of illegal methods and convince him that the course which he is initiating will not only forfeit our sympathy and our material aid but will entail consequences of far-reaching significance.