Office of the Historian

711.61/5–1148: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Embassy in the United Kingdom

secret   niact
us urgent
Washington, May 11, 1948—6 p. m.

1706. Personal and Eyes Only for the Ambassador. Please transmit at once the following personal message from myself to Mr. Bevin.1

[Page 862]

I learn from Lord Inverchapel that a misunderstanding has been caused in London by Molotov’s unexpected and misleading publication of portions of the statements made to him by Ambassador Smith on May 4 and 9 and the full text of his reply.

You will have seen by now the complete text of Smith’s statement which contained no invitation or “proposal” for any specific meeting or discussions. Molotov’s suggestion to that effect was intentionally misleading.

There has been no thought of inaugurating unilateral discussions with the Soviet Government on any matters in which the United Kingdom or any other third party is involved.

Information concerning the exchange of views between Smith and Molotov was transmitted to Lord Inverchapel in a memorandum delivered to him early this morning. We had no knowledge that Molotov would anticipate this communication by his release. We ourselves did not receive final information from Smith on the exchange until yesterday.2

Marshall
  1. Lord Inverchapel sent the reply to this message from Foreign Secretary Bevin to Secretary of State Marshall on May 14. Mr. Bevin remarked in part: “I was very glad to have your assurance that there had been no thought of inaugurating bilateral discussions with the Soviet Government on any matters in which the United Kingdom or any other third party was involved. I need hardly say that we ourselves never thought this could be your intention.” (711.61/5–1448) Ambassador Douglas also sent the text of this reply in telegram 2120 from London on May 14, not printed (740.00119 Council/5–1448).↩

  2. Similar reassurances were telegraphed at the same time to the Embassy in France for repetition to Foreign Minister Bidault in telegram 1618, not printed (711.61/5–1148).

    The Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs, Loy W. Henderson, in a memorandum of May 11, thought that the recent exchange of views with the Soviet government might alarm unjustifiably some of the Near Eastern countries which were “notoriously nervous and suspicious,” causing them to interpret “any gesture toward the Soviet Union as evidence of a desire on our part to make a ‘deal’ at the expense of smaller powers.” He recommended that a telegram should be sent to reassure them (711.61/5–1148). Therefore telegram 586 was sent to the Embassy at Athens on May 12, not printed, to make sure that it was understood by the Greek government that the informal approach to the government of the Soviet Union was designed to prevent any possible misinterpretation on the part of that government of the position of the United States. The same telegram was sent to five other missions for action, and to 15 more for information. (711.61/5–1248)

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