740.00119 Control (Bulgaria)/5–145
Memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State to President Truman
Subject: American Interests in Bulgaria and Rumania
Major General John A. Crane and Brigadier General Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Schuyler, the United States Representatives on the Allied Control Commissions in Bulgaria and Rumania respectively are in Washington on consultation, expecting to return to their posts this week. We have, in addition, a second representation in these countries, independent of the Control Commissions, for the protection [Page 202] of American interests. These latter representatives, Mr. Maynard B. Barnes in Bulgaria and Mr. Burton Y. Berry in Rumania, are Foreign Service Officers with the personal rank of Minister.
For both representations and in both countries the problem is essentially the same; namely, the difficulty of maintaining the position of this Government in an area where the Soviet Government considers its interests paramount.
Since Bulgaria and Rumania surrendered to the Allies last autumn they have been under strict Russian control though nominally subject to Anglo-American-Soviet control commissions. The American representatives on the Control Commissions have hardly more than the status of observers, although in the case of Bulgaria the armistice terms provide for their participation in the work of the Commission. Their presence associates this Government with measures taken in the name of the Commissions by the Soviet authorities on which we are not consulted and with which we are often in disagreement. In Rumania, the Soviet Government has intervened directly in political affairs to bring about the installation of a minority government dominated by the Communists and in Bulgaria they have exerted pressure directly and indirectly on behalf of the Communist Party. Since last autumn the Soviet Union has given us reason to believe that it intends to dominate the affairs of both countries and to exclude the influence of other powers, regardless of the nominally Allied character of the regime of control under the armistice agreements, of the commitments made in the Crimea Declaration on Liberated Europe, and of American and British property or other interests there.
We have had no success in our attempts to have a part in the interpretation and enforcement of the armistice terms. With the approach of the “second period” (between the end of hostilities against Germany and the conclusion of peace with Rumania and Bulgaria), we shall propose that the Control Commissions be made genuinely tripartite and in the case of Bulgaria we have formally indicated our intention in this regard.
On broader political matters not covered by the armistice terms our policy is based on the Crimea Declaration, which we have already invoked in proposing Allied consultation on the recent change of government in Rumania and on the coming elections in Bulgaria. Both proposals were rejected by the Soviet Government. We consider both proposals as “pending” nevertheless, and are awaiting only further developments in the negotiations over Poland before reopening these questions. While we concede that Soviet interests in Rumania and Bulgaria are more direct than ours, we believe that our interests and our responsibilities under the Crimea Declaration require us to take a strong stand vis-à-vis the Soviet Government in [Page 203] support of the principles of joint Allied action in the political sphere and non-exclusion in the economic sphere. We think that the Bulgarians and Rumanians themselves should be given an increasing responsibility and independence of action in their own affairs, both political and economic. We intend to work to this end in discussions with the Soviet Government, and are confident that if this can be achieved we, for our part, would then have no difficulty in Bulgaria and Rumania in effecting the removal of restrictions on the activities of our personnel, and in obtaining the equality of economic opportunity, safeguards for American interests, and access to public opinion, which would serve our national interest and contribute to general peace and security, fulfilling at the same time the obligations publicly assumed through our participation in the Yalta Declaration. A copy of the text of this Declaration on Liberated Europe is attached.36
The above discussion, covering Bulgaria and Rumania, because of the consultation with General Crane and General Schuyler, would be applicable also to Hungary, where a roughly similar situation prevails.
- Section V of the Report of the Crimea Conference, Conferences at Malta and Yalta, pp. 968, 971.↩