860F.00/11–2447: Telegram
The Ambassador in Czechoslovakia (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
1564. I called on President Beneš November 20 at his suggestion for a general talk. He was in much better physical condition than I had hoped. He gave no evidence of being feeble although his speech periodically came slowly and his one leg drags slightly when he walks. I gained the impression, in course of a talk of over an hour, that he has made a very substantial recovery and that his life is not in danger.
[Page 249]The President was delighted with Fierlinger’s ouster and readily took credit for what he described as a major victory. He feels that the balance in the govt has been restored, that the Communist attack on the govt has been beaten off, and is now bending his efforts towards making the Social Democratic party as independent and non-Communist as possible. He was also pleased with the solution of the Slovak crisis. His optimism reached the point of asserting that the turning point had been reached. While he anticipates that Communists will make at least two more efforts between now and elections in May to intimidate, even terrorize, the non-Communist and thus influence outcome of the election, he does not believe that further efforts will precipitate a more acute crisis than those just passed through, and is convinced as the non-Communist leaders and public in general have taken courage from recent Communist defeats, the severity of any future crisis will less pronounced.1
The President said that during the past week he had taken a personal interest in endeavoring to force the Cabinet to settle claims of western powers for nationalized properties. He has had talks with Gottwald, Ripka, Clementis, Niederle [Nejedly?] and others on the subject, and pointed out to Gottwald that the honor of Czecho was at stake. He said he had told Gottwald that it was “intolerable” to drag matter any longer and that he wanted settlements negotiated as soon as possible even though cost might be considerably more than members of govt deemed necessary. He said he had pointed out to Gottwald that as Czecho was the only highly industrialized state in the Soviet orbit and was dependent to a large extent on the west for the import of raw materials, it was suicidal for the govt to become an economic satellite of Soviet Union and utterly disregard its financial obligations to the west. He said Gottwald told him that matter would be given immediate attention that all ministries of govt would be instructed to seek prompt settlement.
The President also expressed his keen interest in negotiations of a commercial treaty with United States as soon as possible.
In the course of his general remarks the President showed a more hostile attitude towards Communists than he had in any previous talk with me and at the same time took occasion to stress his desire for continued friendship with the United States. He said he hoped our govt would succeed in its efforts to restore tranquility to a troubled [Page 250] world. He referred particularly to his recently published memoirs with their laudatory comments concerning the United States which he added had very much annoyed Communists.
- Telegram 1553, November 20, from Praha, not printed, related that Ambassador Steinhardt had heard from reliable sources that during a recent interview with President Beneš, Prime Minister Gottwald had complained that it was increasingly difficult for him to function in his post and that in order to obtain “cooperation” from the non-Communist leaders, it might be necessary to purge the ranks of the non-Communist parties. To this Beneš is said to have replied: “Then I guess you will have to begin with me.” (860F.00/11–2047)↩