740.00119 Control (Rumania)/6–1445: Telegram
The American Representative in Rumania (Berry) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 15—3:23 p.m.]
411. I called upon Mr. Pavlov9 to tell him of the receipt of my orders and to present Melbourne10 who will carry on in my absence.11 In the course of our conversation I said that at home I expected to be asked questions concerning events in Rumania and such questions I felt I could answer satisfactorily but I might be asked too about future projects and on such I would appreciate his views.
Mr. Pavlov said that the primary interest of his Govt was in security. From Rumania several great invasions had been launched which had done incalculable damage to Russian life and property. Naturally, therefore, the Soviet Union would take whatever steps were necessary to see that history did not repeat itself. Thus Soviet ‘action in Rumania had been largely dictated by the compelling need for security. He added that a secondary interest of the Soviet Govt in Rumania was in the stability of a Rumanian Govt that was friendly to the Soviet Union. The present Govt was much more cooperative than the former Govts and, being representative of democratic forces of the country, offered greater stability than any recent Govt.
He then asked me concerning the American attitude towards the present Govt. I answered that our Ambassador in Moscow on Mar 1412 had made a formal request for consultations with the Soviet and British Govts upon the situation of Rumania, adding that it was my understanding that President Truman in a recent telegram to Marshal Stalin13 had made reference to this request, Mr. Pavlov indicated that this was not new information but stressed again the necessity for security for the Soviet Union.
To this I replied that it seemed to me that recent military events in Europe pretty well precluded the idea of a European aggression against the Soviet Union and as far as Rumania itself was concerned, I felt that the Rumanian people fully realized the importance of maintaining a policy of sincere friendship towards the Soviet Union. In fact, it seemed to me that the need for Soviet’s friendship was sufficiently [Page 558] appreciated that it would be confirmed by any freely chosen Rumanian govt. I added, as the conversation was progressing in a frank and friendly manner, that Soviet action in Rumania had more than local significance as the American press and people, having little accurate news of Rumania because correspondents were not freely admitted and freely permitted to send out their news stories, were not very understanding when a govt was installed under, circumstances such as was the present Govt and particularly as that event occurred so soon after the publication of the Yalta communiqué. It seemed to me, therefore, in the interests of world-wide cooperation, that it is desirable that the three Great Powers consult on the Rumanian situation. Mr. Pavlov indicated that such reasons in the past had been pushed into the background by the compelling necessity of winning the war and establishing the security of the Soviet frontiers.
If the attitude of Soviet officials in Rumania in the past few days is a fair barometer of the attitude of the Soviet officials in Moscow, it seems to me that our point of view on the Rumanian situation, when discussed on the Moscow level, will have now a better reception than at any time in the past few months.
Rptd to Moscow as 109.
- Alexey Pavlovich Pavlov, Political Adviser to the Chairman of the Allied Control Commission for Rumania, Marshal Malinovsky.↩
- Roy M. Melbourne, second-ranking Foreign Service Officer in the American political mission in Rumania.↩
- Berry departed from Bucharest on June 18 to return to Washington for consultation.↩
- See letter of March 14 from Ambassador Harriman to Foreign Commissar Molotov, p. 512.↩
- Message from President Truman to Marshal Stalin as transmitted in a note from Ambassador Harriman to Molotov, June 7; see footnote 97, p. 550.↩