Editorial Note
On August 4, Minister Chapin delivered a strong oral protest to Acting Foreign Minister Ernö Mihályfi on the arrest of Stephen T. Thuransky, an American citizen, and left with him an aide-mémoire on the subject. Thuransky had been arrested by Hungarian police on August 1 on the charge of “anti-democratic utterances”. He was found outside the Budapest police jail on the night of August 2, beaten and unconscious, by Harrison Lewis, Secretary of the American Legation. Acting Foreign Minister Mihályfi’s reply of August 4 to the American protest was regarded as unsatisfactory by the United States Government, and Minister Chapin was instructed to inform the Hungarian Foreign Minister to that effect. The United States Representative on the Allied Control Commission for Hungary also approached the Soviet Acting Chairman in connection with the case. For the texts of the exchange of notes between the United States and Hungary on the case and the Department of State’s press statement of August 5, see the Department of State Bulletin, August 17, 1947, pages 330–332.