Office of the Historian

860C.01/4–2945: Telegram

The British Prime Minister (Churchill) to President Truman

[London,] 28 April 1945.

20. 1. I have decided to send Stalin the message contained in my immediately following telegram, in answer to his message to me of April 25th89 of which the British Embassy will give you the text.

2. I do not know whether Stalin has sent you a similar answer but in any case I hope you will agree to my answering independently [Page 265] so as to enable me to put the specifically British case, I naturally would be very glad if you could support me by sending Stalin a message on similar lines.

  1. For text of Marshal Stalin’s message of April 24 to Prime Minister Churchill, see Stalin’s Correspondence, vol. i, document No. 439, p. 330. Portions of the message are also printed in Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy, pp. 492–493.

    In a memorandum to the Acting Secretary of State dated April 27, H. Freeman Matthews, Director of the Office of European Affairs, pointed out that Marshal Stalin’s message to Prime Minister Churchill contained an interesting difference from his reply to President Truman. In his message to Prime Minister Churchill, Marshal Stalin expressed his willingness to “recommend” to the Warsaw Government that Mikolajczyk be invited to Moscow for consultation. Mr. Matthews presumed that the same suggestion was not contained in the message to President Truman because Mikolajczyk’s name had been specifically raised in earlier messages only by Prime Minister Churchill and by President Roosevelt. (860C.01/4–2745)

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