740.00119 Council/5–946: Telegram
The Chief of the Division of Central European Affairs (Riddleberger)87 to the Ambassador in Czechoslovakia (Steinhardt)88
66. Delsec 477. Sent to Praha for Ambassador from Riddleberger. Please acknowledge Masaryk’s letter of May 1 to the Secretary introducing [Page 311] Slavik and explain that while the Secretary regrets that he has not yet been able to receive Slavik the latter is in touch with the American Delegation which has kept him informed on questions of interest to Czechoslovakia discussed to date.89
For your background information Riddleberger had a long interview with Slavik on May 7 in which Slavik was informed that the Czechs would sooner or later be given an opportunity to present their views on Hungary. With respect to Germany, Riddleberger told Slavik that the Czech proposals for boundary rectifications would presumably reopen questions which were provisionally settled by the Potsdam Conference. To date no discussions had been held in the Council on Germany’s eastern frontiers and it was uncertain at this time whether such questions would be raised in the discussions of the Council. Slavik seemed to be satisfied with these replies.
Sent to Praha as 66; repeated to Department as 2240.
- Riddleberger was serving as a political adviser to the United States Delegation at the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Paris.↩
- Sent on the same date to the Department as telegram 2240; received May 14, 6:10 a.m.↩
- Telegram 104, May 3, from Praha to Paris, repeated to the Department as 693, not printed, reported that Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Masaryk was sending Juraj Slavik, Czechoslovak Ambassador-designate to the United States, on a mission to Paris in the hope that the Secretary of State would accord him an opportunity to discuss Czechoslovakia’s territorial claims against Poland, Hungary, and Germany. The telegram further reported that there were press reports in Czechoslovakia that Molotov had received Czechoslovak representatives in Paris and had discussed peace conference questions with them (740.00119 Council/5–346).↩