Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, Paris Peace Conference: Proceedings, Volume III

740.00119 Council/9–2546

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Petroleum Division, Office of International Trade Policy (Loftus)

secret

Paris, September 25, 1946.

Mr. Coste called at his request last night. He made the following points:

1. The Opposition Group were greatly heartened by Mr. Thorp’s statement of September 23³⁸ whereas most members of the official Rumanian Delegation were disturbed and frightened. He mentioned parenthetically that after the apparently successful performance by the Rumanian Economic Experts in answering oral questions on September 22,³⁹ Mr. Maurer was sent to Deauville on what was regarded by his colleagues and Mr. Gusev as a well-deserved vacation, from which he has now been abruptly recalled.

2. He said that Mr. Gafencu, head of the Opposition Group, was addressing a letter to Mr. Byrnes urging modification of Article 29.⁴⁰ He hoped that Mr. Thorp would give sympathetic consideration to this request. Mr. Thorp had now made it clear to the world that Rumania had been abused through intolerable economic exactions. Therefore Rumania should not be deprived, through a mandatory absolute waiver of claims against Allied powers, of any future opportunity (however improbable and illusory it might now appear) for seeking redress of these injustices. The door should be left a little open.

3. He hoped that Mr. Thorp would recognize the implications of the U.S. draft of Article 27. Rumania’s balance in the Rumanian-German clearing arrangement was more than enough to offset Rumania’s armament debt to Germany. Waiver of Rumania’s claims against Germany would permit the USSR to demand the entire armament debt without reference to the offsetting Rumanian clearing balance. Mr. Coste estimated that this additional claim, when converted into goods as it presumably would be, would permit the USSR to exact another $500,000,000 from Rumania. He could not explain how the USSR had overlooked this in putting forward an alternative draft which would deprive Russia of this additional claim.

4. He was very anxious that the possibility be explored of broadcasting Mr. Thorp’s statement in Rumanian through the Voice of America radio facilities; and asked that this request be brought to the attention of Mr. Cavendish Cannon.

5. He asked that Mr. Thorp’s statement be forwarded to the U.S. Mission at Bucharest which would know how to get it into the hands of “the right people” in Rumania.

38. For text of Thorp’s statement, see United States Delegation Press Release, p. 516.
39. A Rumanian representative was questioned at the 24th Meeting of the Economic Commission for the Balkans and Finland, September 22; for the United States Delegation Journal account of that meeting, see p. 507.
40. On October 9, Mr. Gafencu addressed a letter to Secretary Byrnes (not printed) enclosing memoranda presenting the views of the Rumanian Opposition on various aspects of the draft treaty (CFM Files).