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

760C.61/4–2245

Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. Charles E. Bohlen, Assistant to the Secretary of State ⁶²

[Washington,] April 22, 1945.

Participants:	The President
	Mr. Stettinius
	Mr. Molotov
	Ambassador Harriman
	Mr. Pavlov63
	Mr. Bohlen

The President greeted Mr. Molotov warmly and said he was glad to welcome him to the United States. After an exchange of amenities and questions in regard to Mr. Molotov’s trip by air, the President said that he wished to tell Mr. Molotov that he had the greatest admiration for Marshal Stalin and the Soviet Republic and that he hoped that the relations which President Roosevelt had established between our two countries would be maintained. Mr. Molotov said he brought greetings from Marshal Stalin and that he was very pleased to hear personally from the President that he intended to continue the policy of friendship which had been that of President Roosevelt. The President said he stood squarely behind all commitments and agreements taken by our late great President and that he would do everything he could to follow along that path. Mr. Molotov said that the Government and people of the Soviet Union share that hope and he was sure that they could work out successfully any difficulties which lay in the path. The President agreed and said that we must work out these difficulties. Mr. Molotov replied that he felt that there existed a good basis in the Dumbarton Oaks plan and the Crimea decisions. The President repeated that he stood by the decisions and intended to carry them out. Mr. Molotov expressed his agreement and added that the Crimean decisions were sufficiently clear to overcome any difficulties which had arisen. The President then said he wished to mention the most difficult question relating to the Crimean decisions and that was the Polish matter. He said that the proper solution of the Polish question was of great importance because of its effect on American public opinion and that in his opinion it was the most important that faced us. Mr. Molotov replied that he knew this was an important question for the United States but that it would be understood that it was even more important for the Soviet Union; that Poland was far from the United States but bordered on the Soviet Union and this Polish question was therefore vital for them. He added that he thought the Crimea decisions provided a suitable basis for a solution. The President agreed and said that in its larger aspects the Polish question had become for our people the symbol of the future development of our international relations. He repeated that he intended to carry out to the full, both the Dumbarton Oaks proposals and the Crimean decision. He said there were a number of minor matters in respect to San Francisco which he hoped that the Foreign Ministers would be able to settle here in Washington. Mr. Molotov replied that he thought an agreement could easily be reached on these points provided that the views of the Soviet Union were taken into consideration. The President said that they should discuss all these matters further, to which Mr. Molotov agreed. Mr. Molotov observed that the Soviet Government attached the greatest importance to the San Francisco Conference. The President said that the American people did likewise. Mr. Molotov remarked that with the military developments of recent weeks, political questions become even more important than they had been before. The President agreed and said that was one reason why he had wanted to talk to him. Mr. Molotov said that the discussions between the three Heads of State had always been fruitful and had led to good agreements. Mr. Molotov then inquired whether the agreements in regard to the Far Eastern situation made at Yalta⁶⁴ still stood. The President replied that they did and repeated that he intended to carry out all of the agreements made by President Roosevelt. He then proposed that they drink a toast to the health of Marshal Stalin to which Mr. Molotov replied that they should drink a toast to the three Heads of State, President Truman, Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin.

The conversation then became general with a toast drunk to the three Heads of State. During this conversation, however, Mr. Molotov remarked that, as he had told Ambassador Harriman, he only expected to spend a few days in San Francisco.

Also, the President said he hoped before too long to see Marshal Stalin and perhaps to visit him in Russia or to receive him here as a guest. Mr. Molotov said he knew the Marshal was also eager to meet President Truman.

62. For President Truman’s account of this conversation, see Memoirs by Harry S. Truman, vol. i, Year of Decisions, pp. 75–76.
63. Vladimir Nikolayevich Pavlov, translator and interpreter in the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union and Secretary to the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs (Molotov).
64. For text of the agreement regarding entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan, signed at Yalta on February 11, 1945, by Marshal Stalin, President Roosevelt, and Prime Minister Churchill, see Conferences at Malta and Yalta, p. 984.