740.00119 EW/5–945: Telegram

The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kennan) to the Secretary of State

1520. For over an hour now the Embassy building has been besieged by a large and enthusiastic crowd of demonstrators shouting hurrahs and greetings to the American Allies. We estimate that there are at least two or three thousand people in the crowd, which shows no signs of dispersing. There are unceasing demonstrations of enthusiasm, the greatest of which was invoked when a Russian officer climbed onto a ledge of the building where an American noncommissioned officer was standing, pumped the American’s hand and kissed him in real Russian fashion. The demonstrators have no banners referring to United States, and the demonstration seems to have been entirely spontaneous.

American and British military personnel who have ventured out among the crowd, including one British general, have been mercilessly tossed in the air. All in all, there can be no question of the sentiments of the Russian man in the street today toward the western Allies.

Kennan