767.68119/10–3145
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs (Allen)
I called Mr. Maclean86 (Mr. Wright and Mr. Balfour, who have been dealing with the subject, were out of town) to let him know that the American Ambassador at Ankara has been authorized, unless he perceives strong objections, to deliver to the Turkish Government our proposals concerning the revision of the Montreux Convention. I emphasized [Page 1267] that Ambassador Wilson had been given his discretion and that consequently it could not be stated with certainty when the note would be delivered, but that Ambassador Wilson had also been instructed to inform our Embassies in London and Moscow of the date on which he would deliver the note, if he decided to do so. Consequently, the British Government could keep abreast of the matter through our Embassy in London.
As regards our decision to authorize the delivery of the note now, 1 said the Department had given very serious consideration to the British Government’s view that it might be advisable to postpone delivery, but that we had decided to go ahead in view of the long delay which had already occurred since President Truman undertook to discuss the subject with Turkey and in view of the frequent inquiries by Turkey in the matter. I pointed out that the Turkish Ambassador as recently as two days ago had emphasized the uncertainty which would continue to exist in Ankara as long as we delayed delivery.
I told Mr. Maclean that we had also given serious study to his Government’s suggestions regarding our proposals and had promptly adopted the suggested change in the wording of recommendation (3) from “the Straits to be closed to the warships of non-Black Sea powers” to “passage through the Straits to be denied to the warships of non-Black Sea powers”. As regards the British objection to our inclusion of Bulgaria and Rumania among the Black Sea powers whose consent would be necessary for the passage of non-Black Sea warships through the Straits, I pointed out that this consent would be required only in cases involving tonnage in excess of the amount to be agreed upon in the revised convention. Consequently, our proposals might well constitute a liberalizing of the existing convention as regards non-Black Sea warships. I said that I realize that Great Britain objected to any provision requiring Bulgarian and Rumanian consent but that we felt differently in the matter.
During the conversation I mentioned the unfortunate article in the New York Times of yesterday, which implied that United States and Great Britain were formulating a joint policy on the Dardanelles question in order to face Russia with a solid front. I pointed out that this story from London had undoubtedly resulted from our having consented to the British request to see our proposals in advance. Mr. Maclean expressed confidence that the “leak” had not occurred in the British Foreign Office and that if it did, strong disciplinary action would be taken because it was contrary to Mr. Bevin’s policy to give the Russians any basis for feeling that they were being confronted by & united Anglo-American position.
- Mr. Donald Maclean, First Secretary of the British Embassy.↩