701.6174/5–3045: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 30—1:30 p.m.]
1810. ReDepts 1165, May 28, 7:00 p.m.91 With respect to Stalin’s message concerning the immediate resumption of diplomatic relations with Bulgaria, Rumania and Finland, to be followed after a certain period of time with a similar step regarding Hungary, it is my view that we should express agreement with Stalin’s message and proceed immediately to the reestablishment of full diplomatic relations with Rumania, Finland and as soon as the Dimitrov incident92 is satisfactorily closed, with Bulgaria.
The above views are based on the feeling that we will find it difficult to get the Russians to agree to any real tripartite basis for action in the Control Commissions for the coming period and that we can therefore be no worse and possibly better off by handling as many questions as possible directly with the Govts concerned.
- Not printed; it transmitted a paraphrase of Stalin’s message of May 27 to President Truman, supra, and asked for comments on the proposal (701.6174/5–2845).↩
- On the night of May 23–24, 1945, Georgi M. Dimitrov, the leader of the Bulgarian Agrarian Party and opponent of the Bulgarian Communist-dominated regime, escaped from house arrest and was granted asylum at the American Political Mission in Sofia. Protracted discussions with the Bulgarian Government and Soviet authorities continued until the end of August 1945 when Dimitrov left Bulgaria for the United States. For documentation regarding this matter, see vol. iv, pp. 220–314, passim. ↩