884.001 Selassie, Haile/7–346
President Truman to the Emperor of Ethiopia (Haile Selassie I)
Great and Good Friend: I acknowledge the receipt of your friendly letter of April fourth30 which you entrusted to the hands of your distinguished Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Ras Immiru Haile Selassie.
I share Your Imperial Majesty’s sentiments that the future peace of the world must be predicated on equal justice for all whether victor or vanquished, whether large state or small. It has been, and will continue to be, the constant aim of this Government to assure that the magnificent victory which Ethiopia, the United States and the other United Nations achieved through such sacrifice shall never be dissipated by a return to international anarchy. Towards this end, this Government has given its wholehearted support to the United Nations which it views as a bulwark of protection to all peaceloving states, without regard to size. Ethiopia’s unstinting support of this organization [Page 903] is a source of great satisfaction to the Government of the United States.
I need not recall that the Government of the United States has consistently taken the view that all States which actively waged war with substantial military force against European enemy States should participate in a general conference to be called for the purpose of considering the peace treaties. It will be remembered that it was decided at the Moscow Conference in December 1945 that such a conference would be held after the completion of the preparation of draft peace treaties and that Ethiopia would be one of the participating States.
I assure you that this Government will continue to give very close consideration to any matters affecting the preparation of the peace treaties which Ethiopia feels to be of direct concern to it. This Government is also anxious to make sure that Ethiopia will have the opportunity of presenting its views and claims on such matters whenever appropriate.
In conclusion, I avail myself of this opportunity to inform Your Imperial Majesty of this Government’s pleasure at the appointment of Ras Immiru as your envoy to this country. I wish to repeat the assurance, which I gave when I recently had the pleasure of receiving him, to the effect that he might at all times count on the wholehearted cooperation and assistance of this Government in strengthening the already close ties between our two countries.
Your Good Friend,
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In his letter to President Truman dated April 4, 1946, not printed, Emperor Haile Selassie requested United States support at the forthcoming peace conference for Ethiopian claims to Italian Somaliland and Eritrea (884.014/7–346). The Emperor’s letter was handed to President Truman by the Ethiopian Minister when he presented his credentials on May 15, 1946.
In a letter to Assistant Secretary of State Dunn dated July 3, 1946, not printed, Loy W. Henderson, Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs, commented as follows on the claims advanced in the Emperor’s letter:
“Although NEA fails to perceive much merit in the Ethiopian claim to Italian Somaliland (and has reason to think that the Ethiopians themselves do not take it too seriously), it feels that the Emperor has made some telling arguments about the rather unenviable position in which Ethiopia now finds itself as a result of its lack of access to the sea through an area (Eritrea) to which it has close ties and natural claims.” (884.014/7–346)
In a letter to Henderson dated July 17, 1946, not printed, Dunn replied in part as follows:
↩“I … agree that the plea for an outlet to the sea for Ethiopia is based on rather solid arguments in so far as that country’s claims on Eritrea are concerned. British and American studies would seem to support Ethiopia’s receiving at least a part of this territory but it remains to be seen whether the Soviets and French will be sympathetic to the solution already envisaged by us.” (CFM Files, Lot M–88, Box 2083, Ethiopia)