Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume VI

840.4016/1–240: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom ( Winant )²⁵

secret

Washington , February 4, 1946—8 p.m.

1197. Reurtel 39 Jan 2; repeated to Praha as 1, Moscow as 3 and Budapest as 1 and reDeptel 10634 Dec 7 to London, repeated to Praha as 452, Budapest as 797 and Moscow as 2471.²⁶ Please inform Brit FonOff that Dept is in agreement with views outlined in FonOff letter to Embassy as regards desirability that direct negotiations between Hungary and Czechoslovakia be continued. As for further steps that might be taken in event of failure of the two Govts to reach agreement, we would wish to give further consideration to matter in light of intervening developments.

Since Soviet Govt has already stated that it favors direct negotiations between Hungarian and Czechoslovak Govts on this question and has notified Soviet Reps in Praha and Budapest to that effect (Moscow’s 181 Jan 19 to Dept, repeated by Dept to London as 993 Jan 29, Praha as 58, and Budapest 108²⁷), we hope Brit FonOff will be disposed to proceed with communication of its views to Hungarian and Czechoslovak Govts.

In the circumstances, Dept hereby requests Legation Budapest to reply to Hungarian FonOff notes of Nov 20 and Dec 11 (Budapest’s 997 Nov 30 and 1106 Dec 15 and despatches nos. 620 Dec 1 and 731 Dec 20²⁸) along following lines:²⁹

1. US Govt does not in present circumstances consider feasible formation of international commission to examine Hungarian-Czechoslovak minority problem or supervise any exchange of population;

2. Similarly, this Govt cannot support request for establishment of interim international control of districts in Slovakia inhabited by Hungarians;

3. US Govt affirms view previously conveyed informally to PriMin (Deptel 799 Dec 7 and Budapest 1060 Dec 10³⁰) that existing differences between Hungarian and Czechoslovak Govts should be settled by bilateral negotiations and urges that further efforts be made by both Govts to this end;³¹

4. In this connection, US Govt will recognize and support a humane settlement freely agreed to between Hungarian and Czechoslovak Govts.

Dept also desires that substance of US attitude as outlined above be communicated informally by Embassy Praha to Czechoslovak FonOff.

Sent to London, Budapest, and Praha and repeated to Moscow.

Byrnes

25. Text of this message was also sent to Budapest as telegram 127, to Praha as telegram 77, and repeated to Moscow as telegram 215.
26. Telegram 39, January 2, from London, reported receipt of a letter from the British Foreign Office stating that the British Government shared the view of the United States Government that the Hungarian and Czechoslovak Governments should settle the various questions regarding the minorities in the two countries by means of direct bilateral negotiations (840.4016/1–246). For text of telegram 10634, December 7, 1945, to London, see Foreign Relations, 1945, vol. iv, p. 943.
27. Not printed; it transmitted text of a Soviet note of January 17, 1946, which was in response to an American note of December 10, 1945 (840.4016/1–1946).
28. For texts of telegrams 997 and 1106, see Ibid., pp. 941 and 949, respectively; despatches under reference not printed.
29. In accordance with the instructions set forth here, Minister Schoenfeld delivered a note to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry on February 9, 1946. For text as translated into French, see La Hongrie et la Conference de Paris, vol. ii, Les Rapports Internationaux de la Hongrie avant la Conférence de Paris (Budapest, 1947), p. 57.
30. Foreign Relations, 1945, vol. iv, pp. 944 and 945, respectively.
31. Telegram 297, February 11, 1946, from Budapest, reported that this paragraph had not been included in this telegram as originally received in Budapest and had not, therefore, been included in the note delivered to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry on February 9 (840.4016/2–1246).