702.6111/3–1245
Memorandum by the Director of the Office of European Affairs (Matthews)84
The explanation of the Soviet Ambassador’s unusual proposal for the establishment in Portland and Seattle of “representations” of the [Page 1162] Soviet Consulate in San Francisco is probably that the Soviet Government is afraid that, if they should request permission to open two new consulates, we would use this as a basis for requesting permission to open additional American Consulates in the U.S.S.R.
It is suggested that you inform the Ambassador that we would sympathetically consider a request of the Soviet Government to open consulates or vice consulates in Portland and Seattle, but that we believe the status of these offices and their personnel should be regularized in order that there might be no misunderstanding of their functions and to avoid difficulties that might arise if the persons in charge of these offices did not have regular consular status. You might add that it would be for the Soviet Government to decide whether or not these offices would be subordinate to the Soviet Consulate at San Francisco.
- Addressed to the Assistant Secretary of State (Dunn) and the Under Secretary of State (Grew); Mr. Dunn noted: “I concur”.↩