Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1945, Europe, Volume IV

740.00119 Potsdam/5–2446

Memorandum Prepared in the Department of State²⁶

[Washington,] June 23, 1945.

Relations between the United States and Czechoslovakia remain excellent as they have been in the past. Diplomatic relations were resumed when the American Embassy was opened in Praha on May 29, 1945, thus enabling the United States to carry on the historic policy of supporting a free and independent Czechoslovakia.

Although Czechoslovakia was one of the original signatories of the United Nations Act²⁷ and has been liberated from German domination, it is still occupied by Allied armies. The Russian army occupies Praha and the entire country east of the capital. The American army occupies the western area on a line running south from Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary) through Pilsen (Plzen). The Russian army operates under the terms of the Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance (December 12, 1943)²⁸ and the Czechoslovak-Soviet Civil Affairs Agreement (May 8, 1944). The United States has no comparable agreement with the Czechoslovak Republic. The United States commander in Czechoslovakia has been asked to comment on the desirability of concluding a civil affairs agreement.

The presence of occupation troops in Czechoslovakia is not required by internal conditions or by any major problem of military security. A provisional government is functioning under President Beneš and is actively preparing for elections to establish a definitive and popularly elected government. The provisional government possesses security forces in sufficient number to maintain order and security within the national frontiers. The continued presence of Russian and American armies might tend to embarrass the efforts of the Czechoslovak people to recreate their own independent national life. The presence of these two armies likewise is retarding Czechoslovak economic recovery and rehabilitation due to the exchange rates established for military expenditures and the consumption of goods which otherwise might be used in the rebuilding of Czechoslovak economic life.

The independence of Czechoslovakia can not be fully restored until the troops of both armies are withdrawn. The withdrawal of the American and Russian armies should take place as soon as possible to enable the Czechoslovak people to reorganize their own national life. The withdrawal of the two armies should be simultaneous and complete. A simultaneous withdrawal is necessary to prevent Czechoslovakia from coming under the apparent control of any one Allied power.

26. One of a group of documents prepared by the Department as background information for President Truman and his advisers for the meeting of Heads of Government at Berlin (Potsdam), July 17–August 2. For documentation regarding this meeting, see Foreign Relations, The Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference), 1945, 2 vols. For other background reports of the group of which this memorandum was a part, see ibid., vol. i, pp. 249–280.
27. The Declaration by United Nations, January 1, 1942, Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. i, p. 25.
28. Treaty of friendship, mutual assistance, and postwar collaboration, with protocol, between the Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Republic, signed at Moscow December 12, 1943; for text, see British and Foreign State Papers, vol. cxlv, p. 238, or Department of State, Documents and State Papers, vol. i, No. 4 (July 1948), p. 228. In regard to the negotiation of this treaty, see Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. iii, pp. 670–734, passim.