Office of the Historian

890.0146/2–2047

The Soviet Minister for Foreign Affairs (Molotov) to the Secretary of State 1

undated
[Translation]

The Soviet Government has carefully considered your note of the 13th [12] of February of this year and has arrived at the conclusion [Page 265] that it is not worthwhile to postpone the question about the former mandated islands of Japan and that the decision of this question comes within the competency of the Security Council.

As regards the substance of the question, the Soviet Government deems that it would be entirely fair to transfer to the trusteeship of the United States the former mandated islands of Japan, and the Soviet Government takes into account, that the armed might of the U.S.A. played a decisive role in the matter of victory over Japan and that in the war with Japan the U.S.A. bore incomparably greater sacrifices, than the other allied governments.2

  1. Forwarded to the Secretary of State under cover of a note from the Soviet Ambassador (Novikov) dated February 20. In transmitting the Soviet communication to the Secretary, the Director of the Office of European Affairs (Hickerson) noted; “The present note is … a complete reversal of position” (501.BE/2–2747).↩

  2. The Acting Secretary of State in a note of March 6 to Ambassador Novikov said:

    “The United States Government is pleased to learn that the Soviet Government concurs in the view that the question of trusteeship for the former Japanese Mandated Islands comes within the competence of the Security Council and that the Soviet Government deems that it would be entirely fair to transfer the former Japanese Mandated Islands to the trusteeship of the United States. The United States Government also takes note of the expressions contained in Mr. Molotov’s note concerning the role of the armed forces of the United States in the victory over Japan.” (890.0146/2–2047)

    ↩