Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume V

800.00B/3–1649: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Embassy in the Soviet Union ¹

restricted
us urgent

Washington , March 16, 1949—7 p. m.

162. FYI with further reference visas Cultural Scientific Conference for Peace Dept instructed Warsaw, Praha, Bucharest, Belgrade issue limited official 3(1) visas² which as in case visas issued Sovreps will carry no diplomatic privileges or immunities and valid only for purposes of conference. Budapest being turned down on ground improper treatment by Hungarian Govt representatives US Mission. No application received from Bulgaria. Dept instructing missions non-curtain countries where applications have been received from private individuals to deny visitors visas Communists or Communist sympathizers on ground Dept not prepared recommend Attorney General permit admission under Ninth Proviso.³ Other private applicants will be issued visitors visas provided Mission fully satisfied not inadmissible under Act Oct 16, 1918.⁴ No requests for 3(1) visas anticipated outside curtain countries.

Press release gives as ground issuance official visas reps orbit countries principle freedom of speech and info and states Dept fully aware close relationship Breslau Conf⁵ and entertains no illusions manner in which Communists will attempt use present conf, refers previous efforts cultural exchanges, states hopes ultimate understanding all peoples which possible only where peoples under totalitarian regimes can bring about relaxation present barriers.⁶

Acheson

1. Repeated to Warsaw as 160, Praha as 318, Belgrade as 127, Bucharest as 79, and Budapest as 225.
2. Section 3, (1) of the Immigration Act of May 26, 1924, as amended, defined those categories of persons entitled to receive official visas. For text, see United States Department of Justice and Immigration and Naturalization Service, Immigration and Nationality Laws and Regulations As of March 1, 1944 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1944), p. 41.
3. Proviso 9 of Section 3 of the Immigration Act of February 5, 1917, as amended and supplemented, authorized the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization with the approval of the Attorney General to control and regulate the admission and exclusion of otherwise inadmissable aliens applying for temporary admission into the United States. For text, see ibid., p. 7.
4. The Act of October 16, 1918, entitled “Exclusion and Expulsion of Anarchists and Similar Classes”, defined various categories of persons excluded from entry into the United States. For text, see ibid., pp. 77–79.
5. Regarding the launching of the Communist “peace campaign” at the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace, held August 25–28, 1948, at Wroclaw (Breslau), Poland, see the Department of State paper of December 9 on the “Soviet Peace Offensive”, p. 839.
6. Regarding the press statement under reference here, see the editorial note, supra.