Office of the Historian

511.6121/2–1450: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Kirk) to the Secretary of State 1

restricted
priority
Moscow, February 14, 1950—6 p. m.

528. Embtel 319, January 30.2 Following is text in translation of letter received from Ramsin,3 Soyuzpechat, dated February 11.

Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga directed to us your letter of January 30 concerning distribution of magazine Amerika in 1949.

In accordance with request expressed in letter, we inform you that magazine Amerika is sold in more than 70 cities of Soviet Union, including all largest centers of country. In every one of these cities outside Moscow magazine Amerika is on sale from 3 to 50 kiosks of Soyuzpechat, depending on size of city.

600 copies of each number of magazine Amerika are sent regularly to City of Vladivostok for sale.

Thus, your assertions that distribution of magazine Amerika has been ineffective, that measures have not been taken for distribution of magazine in whole country, and that magazine was absent from sale outside Moscow, are without foundation.

Adjoined, I send you information on unsold copies remaining from magazine Amerika for year 1949.

Enclosure indicates following unsold copies Amerika: 25–354 during 1949; 25, 1063; 26, 1844; 27, 5954; 28, 8143; 29, 12337; 30, 15129; 31, 19469; 32, 17165; 33, 21208; 34, 26130; 35, 23020.

[Page 1104]

Present situation: Issue 35 on sale December 25, paid for January 10. 36 on sale since February 2, not paid for. Issue 37 delivered Soyuzpechat February 7. Soyuzpechat presumably expect begin turnbacks on issue 36.

Kirk
  1. This telegram was relayed to Frankfort at 2:57 p. m. on February 14.↩
  2. Not printed; but see footnote 5, p. 1080.↩
  3. Pëtr (Peter) Borisovich Ramsin was the head of Soyuzpechat.↩
  4. These figures indicate the issue number of Amerika.↩