Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, Central and Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume IV

511.6121/8–2850

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Kirk) to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Vyshinsky)¹

secret
No. 149

Moscow, August 25, 1950.

Excellency: I beg to acknowledge the letter of Deputy Minister Gromyko of June 20, 1950, concerning the magazine Amerika. In reply my Government has requested me to inform you of the following:

The American Government regrets that the Soviet Government refuses to abide by its agreement given in its note of April 23, 1946, to “undertake the distribution from June 1, 1946, of 50, 000 copies of Amerika.”

My Government cannot accept the contention, advanced after the agreement has already been in effect four years, that the commitment of April 23, 1946, has never existed.

However, the American Government has noted the Soviet Government’s statement that “there has not been and there is no prohibition or limitation whatever of the free sale of the magazine Amerika in the USSR”.

Although it cannot agree that there have been no limitations in the past, my Government hopes that the Soviet Government’s statement concerning the absence of limitations will prove true in the future.

For its part, my Government believes that the road to world peace lies through reciprocal efforts toward the free exchange of ideas. It will therefore continue to give concrete evidence of its desire to increase understanding between the American people and the peoples of the USSR by making every possible effort to maintain the distribution of the magazine Amerika.

To this end, the Embassy, acting in accordance with the statement in Mr. Gromyko’s letter that matters of a commercial character fall within the competency of Soyuzpechat, is presenting to Soyuzpechat a series of suggestions for improving and extending the distribution of the magazine.² My Government understands in the light of the statement that there is no limitation on the free sale of Amerika, that the Soviet Government will place no obstacles in the path of this further American attempt to increase understanding and the exchange of ideas between the American people and the peoples of the USSR.

Accept [etc.]

[Copy not signed]

1. The original of this note was delivered by Ambassador Kirk to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Vyshinsky on August 25. A copy was enclosed in despatch 57 from Moscow on August 28. (511.6121/8–2850)
2. Infra.