Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Second Secretary of Embassy in China (Ludden)81
In the course of a long conversation with Vinogradov82 on June 13th, he expressed the following opinions:
- 1.
- That General Marshall’s mission has failed and there is no hope of permanent settlement between the Kuomintang Government and the Chinese Communists.
- 2.
- That the Soviet Government is distrustful of American policy in the Far East because all of our actions in Japan, China, Korea, and the Pacific Islands are aimed offensively at the Soviet Union.
- 3.
- That thus far the Soviet Union has followed a hands-off policy toward China, but it may become necessary actively to intervene in China if the present unsatisfactory situation continues.
Vinogradov is not rated as a senior officer of the Soviet Embassy, but his self-styled personal opinions may be accepted as reflecting [Page 1047] current thinking at least within the Soviet Embassy. It is also of some interest that Vinogradov’s opinions were offered me gratuitously following a dinner at which my wife and I were the only guests and which was the first time that I have ever been entertained by any member of the Soviet Embassy staff. The Naval Attache states that Vinogradov is an NKVD representative in the Soviet Embassy.
As far as I am aware, Vinogradov’s open expression of the possibility of active Soviet intervention in China is the first time such a view has been put forth to any member of this Embassy’s staff.