860h.00/9–1345
Memorandum of Conversation in London Between the Secretary of State and King Peter II of Yugoslavia47
This meeting took place Thursday, September 13, 1945, between 9:40 and 10:00 A.M., in the suite of Secretary Byrnes, Room 209, Claridge’s Hotel, London.
[Page 1256]King Peter began the talk by asking the Secretary whether the Council of Ministers would discuss Yugoslavia’s internal affairs, and the Secretary’s reply was “No”. With this “no” he carefully explained why; namely, that the agenda laid down at Potsdam for this meeting48 must be adhered to; that the first subject for discussion was Italy and the second subject was the Bulgarian peace treaty.
The King then suggested to the Secretary that if the Council took up Italy, it must of necessity bring up Trieste. And that if the Council discussed Bulgaria, it would be called upon to discuss Macedonia. The King therefore concluded that either or both subjects would draw the Council’s attention to Yugoslavia.
Secretary Byrnes said he was cognizant of this but that the Council must do its best to adhere to the prepared agenda.
If my memory serves me correctly, the Secretary also stated that the question of international waterways, and the subject of Germany and Roumania, would be discussed.
King Peter said that the four freedoms guaranteed by the Allies did not exist in Yugoslavia, and that Marshal Tito had violated all his promises to the Allies in that he had ignored his commitments outlined in the Tito-Subasic agreement, to which the Secretary replied, in essence, that he had been informed of this.
The King respectfully urged Secretary Byrnes to bring up this problem at the Council meeting, to which the Secretary replied that the Council will last a long time, and said: “We will be meeting again three weeks after this conference is over”. (The King thought that the Secretary meant that the five ministers would convene again after this session was over, but I advised him that the Secretary referred to the scheduled conferences of deputies).
The King, in addition to stressing the point that there is no freedom in Yugoslavia, said that the elections set for November 11 would not be a free expression of the people’s will. The King urged the Secretary to see that an Allied commission went to Yugoslavia in order to supervise events so that the elections would not be rigged, but would be open and free. The King suggested that this commission decide when conditions were ripe for free voting and postpone the elections until such was the case. At this suggestion the Secretary looked at the King as if he might have a good idea, but made no comment. King Peter said: “If you permit the elections to be held now, and they are [Page 1257] not free, then you will be forced not to recognize the government which results from such elections.” To this Secretary Byrnes indicated that was a possibility.
The King explained to the Secretary how Tito’s soldiers march from one village to another to vote in municipal elections, which the King stated the soldiers have a right to do whenever they are in a village or town at the time of a local election. In other words, The King said they could vote more than once, and whenever there was some doubt in a city as to how the election would go, the soldiers would arrive just in time to cast their ballot. Secretary Byrnes seemed to be amused at this, and I expressed the opinion that Tammany might be interested in this system.
King Peter then said: “We have had many nice words and promises from the Allies but no action.” The Secretary replied, in essence, that on that point many people agree.
As the King prepared to depart he showed Secretary Byrnes a letter, dated May 8, 1945, from Prime Minister Churchill, prior to the Trieste incident, in which Mr. Churchill wrote: “I cannot conceal from Your Majesty that events so far have disappointed my best hopes, and that there is much which is happening in Yugoslavia that I regret but am unable to prevent”.
With reference to supplementing the agenda the Secretary explained to the King that the Chinese had called upon him to raise new questions about Japan and that he had been forced to refuse to take these questions up at the present Council meeting.
I believe the above is the essence of what transpired two days ago, and that I am substantially correct in what I have here set down.
The King said he enjoyed his opportunity to talk with Secretary Byrnes, and that he had confidence that the Secretary would see to it that the Yalta Declaration was carried out.
- This memorandum was prepared by Richard C. Patterson, Jr., Ambassador to Yugoslavia, temporarily in London, who was present at the interview, and was directed to Cavendish W. Cannon, First Secretary of Embassy in Lisbon, who was detailed as a political adviser to the first meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in London, September 11 to October 2, 1945. For documentation on this meeting, see vol. ii, pp. 99 ff.↩
- See chapter II, paragraph (3) (i) of the Report on the Tripartite Conference of Berlin, August 2, 1945, Foreign Relations, The Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference), 1945, vol. ii, p. 1500.↩