Editorial Note
Minister Heath and the entire Legation staff and their families departed from Sofia by train on the morning of February 24. According to a report by Heath, transmitted in telegram 123, February 26, from Trieste, not printed, the Bulgarian authorities caused no serious problems in connection with departure and only a few minor nuisances. Heath viewed this as an obvious effort to minimize public notice of the departure. No representatives of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry were at the train station, but some thirty plain clothes police were present. (123 Heath, Donald R.)
During a stopover in Belgrade, Yugoslavia on February 25, Minister Heath issued a statement to the press denouncing the Bulgarian campaign of vilification and insult against himself and members of the Legation culminating in the declaration of him as persona non grata, but expressing regret for the necessity of the United States to sever diplomatic relations with Bulgaria. For the text of the statement, subsequently issued in Washington on February 27, see Department of State Bulletin, March 13, 1950, page 397.
In a statement made over the Columbia Broadcasting System from radio station WTOP on March 11, 1950, former Minister Heath reviewed the hostile actions of the Bulgarian regime against the American Mission in Sofia resulting in the suspension of diplomatic relations. For the text of the statement, see ibid., March 20, 1950, page 442.