740.00119 Council/10–246
Mr. H. Freeman Matthews, Political Adviser, United States Delegation, to the Minister in Switzerland (Harrison)
Dear Leland: There have been many rumors as to the reasons for Molotov’s return to Moscow at the end of August, which have been accentuated by his departure this morning for another visit home.84 As to the validity of the report which you mention in your letter,85 we don’t feel here that Stalin’s reasoning would be quite as stark as this report would indicate, nor is it probable that Molotov’s intransigent attitude in Paris can be regarded as being in the nature of a cause of war, although obviously we have no real information on this subject. It is probable that the Soviet leaders wish to review the present situation from the point of view of tactics, and I think that Stalin’s recent conciliatory press interview86 should be regarded in that light. There were probably many reasons outside the Peace Conference which may have led the Kremlin to such a tactical decision. Among those might be our stand on the Dardanelles question,87 comparative failure of the Soviet-backed parties in the recent general election, and possibly a general feeling that the Soviet Government was making [Page 882] more enemies than friends throughout Europe and the rest of the world as a result of its tactics.
The present line seems to be to concentrate on what the Soviet Union physically controls and to concentrate its support on the Slavic block. Beyond these very general observations I am afraid I cannot, in the absence of more information, give any more precise evaluation.
Sincerely yours,
- Molotov visited Moscow from August 31 to September 5 and from October 4 to October 7.↩
- Harrison’s letter of October 2 requested Matthews’ evaluation of a report that Molotov’s trip to Moscow at the end of August was the result of Stalin’s desire to discuss the possibility of Soviet policy at Paris provoking a war (740.00119/10–246).↩
- Harrison’s letter had mentioned a press interview, presumably referring to questions and answers between Stalin and Alexander Werth, a British correspondent, published September 24 and reported in telegram 3562 from Moscow the same day; the telegram is printed in vol. vi, p. 784. Embassy comments on Stalin’s replies were contained in telegram 3572 of September 25, ibid., p. 786. (761.00/9–2446 and 761.00/9–2546)↩
- For documentation on United States policy regarding Soviet demands for revision of the Turkish Straits regime, see vol. vii, pp. 801 ff.↩