874.00/10–1547: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Legation in Bulgaria 1
443. While questioning desirability of dignifying with detailed and public refutations the numerous insinuations and allegations which Bulg Govt and press have been making concerning US participation in and support of subversive activities directed against Bulg Govt, Dept believes smear campaign should not continue wholly unchallenged. Accordingly Dept feels that Min Heath2 might seek appropriate early occasion in course conversations with Govt officials to refer to campaign of vituperation against US and to state (1) that US Govt has made and will continue to make known to Bulg Govt and to general public its views concerning certain actions of Bulg Govt; (2) that US Govt has not and is not engaged in subversive activities against Bulg Govt and is entirely confident that its Reps have not and are not so engaged; and (3) that, if campaign of vituperation against US and its Reps has any motivation other than obvious propaganda one, US Govt considers that proper course of Bulg Govt would be to communicate to US Govt any facts it may develop supporting or having any connection with the accusations and insinuations to which utterance is current being given.
As to Petkov’s alleged letter (Legtel 931 Oct 153) Leg is authorized state at any time considered suitable US Govt’s view that “it is incredible that those responsible for the publication of this alleged letter should be naive enough to think that the world could be deluded by so familiar and transparent a strategem”. For your info Dimitrov “interview” and letter have aroused no appreciable public interest here.
- This telegram was sent in reply to telegram 931, October 15, from Sofia, not printed, which suggested that the Department might wish to issue a public statement refuting charges made by Prime Minister Dimitrov in an interview printed in the Sofia press on October 11 and in a letter allegedly signed by (Nikola Petkov after his conviction for conspiracy. Dimitrov asserted that American and British officials had interfered in Bulgarian internal affairs and made Petkov’s execution inevitable. Petkov’s alleged letter, which was also published in the Sofia press on October 11, implicated the American and British representatives in Bulgaria in Petkov’s political activity.↩
- Appointed Minister Heath arrived in Sofia on October 25; he assumed charge of the Legation on October 28; and he presented his credentials to the Bulgarian Government on November 9.↩
- Not printed; see footnote 1 above.↩