President Roosevelt to the British Prime Minister (Churchill)9
714. Your 905.
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As to the Polish negotiations in Moscow I most certainly agree that we must stand firm on the right interpretation of the Crimean decision. You are quite correct in assuming that neither the Government nor the people of this country will support participation in a fraud or a mere whitewash of the Lublin Government and the solution must be as we envisaged it at Yalta. We have recently sent instructions to Harriman, a copy of which has been given to your Embassy here, to address a communication to Molotov making this clear and in general very much along the lines of the Foreign Office’s suggestions contained in the telegram to Halifax to which you refer. I understand that Clark Kerr will be instructed along similar lines. In the circumstances I feel that it would be much better to await the result of these steps by our Ambassadors before either you or I intervene personally with Stalin particularly since there is no question of either of our Governments yielding to Molotov’s interpretation. I feel that our personal intervention would best be withheld until every other possibility of bringing the Soviet Government into line has been exhausted. I very much hope, therefore, that you will not send any message to Uncle Joe at this juncture—especially as I feel that certain parts of your proposed text might produce a reaction quite contrary to your intent. We must, of course, keep in close touch on this question.