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  4. Document 930

860h.01/1–645: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador to the Yugoslav Government in Exile (Patterson), at London

Washington, January 7, 1945—5 p.m.

Yugos 2. Reurtel 4 January 6, midnight.2 You may say to King Peter that your report has been sent to the President. As regards the King’s request that the President communicate with Mr. Churchill before the resumption of discussions of the Subasic–Tito agreement, you should say that the views of this Government as set forth in the Department’s 63 and 74 of December 23 to you have already been communicated to the British Government through the Embassy in Washington,5 together with a somewhat detailed statement of our policy concerning the Yugoslav question in general. In view of Mr. Churchill’s personal interest in the Yugoslav discussions it is supposed that this statement has been brought to his attention. The contents of it have also been communicated to the White House. For the moment, the Department cannot say whether the President, on reexamining these documents, will have further observations to communicate to the British Government. As King Peter knows, the President has given much thought to the developments in Yugoslavia, and it is believed that the instructions sent to you and the memorandum already communicated to the British Government reflect his views on the matters in question.

Stettinius
  1. Not printed. In this telegram Ambassador Patterson reported that despite British urging, King Peter II was reluctant to give his assent to the agreements drawn up in November and December of the previous year between the President of the National Committee of Liberation of Yugoslavia, Marshal Josip Brora Tito, and the Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Yugoslavia, Dr. Ivan Subasich. The King expressed the hope that President Roosevelt would support his position to Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill of Great Britain. For documentation on the Tito-Subasich agreements, see Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. iv, pp. 1417–1433, passim, and Foreign Relations, The Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945, pp. 251–265.↩
  2. Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. iv, p. 1443.↩
  3. Not printed.↩
  4. Conferences at Malta and Yalta, p. 255.↩