249.1111–Oatis, William N./9–651
The Secretary of State to Senator Tom Connolly 1
My Dear Senator Connally: I refer to your letter of September 6, 1951 and to the Department’s interim reply of September 7 regarding Senate Resolution 200 “Favoring retaliatory action against [Page 1277] newspaper correspondents from Communist countries”.2 You request the Department’s comments on the recommendations in the Resolution to the effect that, as a reprisal for the treatment accorded the American correspondent William N. Oatis by the Government of Czechoslovakia,3 representatives of the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) be excluded from the Congressional Press Galleries, “their credentials and diplomatic passports be withdrawn”, and that all other correspondents from Communist countries be subjected to the same restrictions as are placed upon United States correspondents behind the Iron Curtain.
It is noted that Resolution 200 states that the Czechoslovak Ambassador to this country has officially declared the Oatis case is “finished business”, thus in effect declaring there is no possibility of Mr. Oatis’ release. In his conversation with the Secretary of State on August 29, when the Czechoslovak Ambassador was summoned to the Department, he did not say or suggest in any way that the Oatis case is “finished business”, nor has he or any other Czechoslovak official so indicated to any officer of this Government.4 It is understood, however, that in response to questions by press correspondents the Ambassador stated that the Oatis case was closed from a juridical point of view. The Czechoslovak Ambassador thus appeared to imply that the Czechoslovak Government has not closed the door to further consideration of the Oatis case from other points of view.
In connection with this Resolution I would like to give you information concerning the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (Tass) and the status of its representatives in the United States.
The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (Tass) in the United States with offices in Washington and New York is a section of the main Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union with headquarters in Moscow. Tass is a Soviet Government organization attached to the Council of Ministers of the USSR and functions as the official news gathering body for the Soviet Government.
Soviet citizens representing Tass in the United States hold Soviet official passports, not diplomatic. They entered the United States on United States official visas, not diplomatic visas, for the purpose of carrying on the duties of a correspondent for Tass. There are eight Soviet citizens representing Tass in the United States. Seven of these representatives are stationed in the New York office of Tass; [Page 1278] one, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Fedorov, in the Washington office. These representatives are:
Nikolai Nikolaevich Karev
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Fedorov
Nikolai Antonovich Kossov
Nikolai Ivanovich Nikitin
Pavel A. Fisunov
Ivan Ivanovich Beglov
Leonid V. Sorokin
Georgi Nikitovich Bolshakov
The representatives of Tass are not on the Department of State Diplomatic List and are not entitled to diplomatic privileges and immunities. In the view of the Department of State, Tass representatives have the status of Soviet Government officials with the duties of a “correspondent” for Tass. The fact that they entered the United States as a correspondent for Tass on a United States official visa does not grant them any special consideration in connection with the transmission of news abroad or immunity from the laws of the United States.
Of the four representatives of Tass who are admitted to the Congressional Press Galleries, only Mikhail A. Fedorov is a Soviet citizen. The other three, Laurence Todd, Jean Montgomery and Euphemia K. Virden, are American citizens.
While it is the prerogative of the Congress to establish the rules under which the Standing Committee of Correspondents determines which news agencies and correspondents are entitled to the privilege of the Congressional Press Galleries, I wish to point out the following.
The ejection of the Tass correspondents from the Congressional Press Galleries might result in the imposition of additional controls and restrictions on American correspondents in the USSR. It might also result in the expulsion of American correspondents from the Soviet Union or even place them in personal jeopardy. The expulsion of Tass representatives from the Congressional Press Galleries would not deprive them or Tass of sources of public information regarding official United States Government business.
Seven of the eight representatives of Tass in the United States, including Mikhail A. Fedorov, the Soviet Union representative who is accredited to the Congressional Press Galleries, are accredited by the United Nations. Application for accreditation of Georgi N. Bolshakov is pending.
Under the Headquarters Agreement between the United States and the United Nations,5 the United Nations accredits aliens as [Page 1279] correspondents after consultation with the United States. Under the provisions of the Headquarters Agreement the United States may restrict correspondents accredited by the United Nations to the Headquarters Area, but such correspondents are subject to deportation only if they abuse privileges of residence by activities outside their official capacity. If, therefore, the recommendation that “their credentials and diplomatic passports be withdrawn” means that the United States should expel the Soviet citizens representing Tass without regard to any abuse by them of their privileges of residence, it should be noted that such action would be a violation on the part of the United States of its obligations under the Headquarters Agreement.
While steps could immediately be taken to expel the Tass correspondent accredited only to this Government, that is, Georgi Nikitovich Bolshakov, the Soviet Union could in that event be expected to retaliate at the very least by the expulsion of one or more of the five accredited American correspondents in Moscow maintained by the New York Times, Associated Press, United Press and Overseas News Agency; or it could retaliate by methods involving the personal safety of one or more of these American correspondents.
The expulsion from the United States of Tass representatives with Soviet citizenship would not cut off the main headquarters of Tass in Moscow from American news sources. It can be expected that Soviet citizens would promptly be replaced by American citizens who were either members of or sympathetic with the aims of the Communist Party. There are twelve American citizens registered as employees of Tass with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended. Also, there is no prohibition against diplomatic representatives of the Soviet Government accredited to the United States Government sending news items by diplomatic pouch or through commercial channels to Tass, the official news gathering body of the Soviet Government. Instances are known of the press attaches and employees of Soviet missions abroad being officially designated as Tass representatives.
The following is presented with reference to the recommendation that “all other correspondents from Communist countries be subjected to the same restrictions … as are placed upon United States correspondents behind the Iron Curtain”.
There are only twelve alien correspondents in the United States representing news agencies in Iron Curtain countries. Ten of these correspondents are Soviet citizens and two are Polish citizens. In addition to the eight Tass representatives in the United States, there are two other Soviet citizen correspondents in the United States. Ivan A. Fillipov represents Pravda, the organ of the Communist [Page 1280] Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) and is accredited to the United Nations as a news correspondent. Evgeni V. Litoshko represents Pravda and the All Union Radio Committee with headquarters in Moscow. E. V. Litoshko does not broadcast for the All Union Radio Committee, sending to the Soviet Union only written material. He is not accredited to the United Nations. The two remaining alien Communist correspondents in the United States are the Polish citizens Mieczyslaw Wionczek and Henryk Gall, representing the Polish Press Agency, PolPress, a section of the main official press agency in Warsaw. These Polish correspondents entered the United States on official United States visas and both are accredited to the United Nations.
Czechoslovakia has no Czechoslovak national acting as a correspondent in the United States. An American citizen, Mr. William Weinstone, is registered with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended, as a correspondent for Telepress, a news agency with headquartes in Prague.
Since there are no alien Communist correspondents from the other Iron Curtain countries, the question of reciprocity can apply only to the Soviet Union and Poland. There are no American citizen correspondents representing American news agencies in Poland at the present time.
The Department has given extensive study to the question of imposing restrictive and retaliatory measures upon the representatives in the United States of the Soviet Tass agency and the Polish Press Agency. An important consideration is whether restrictive measures would assist or hinder the cause of American correspondents in the Iron Curtain countries and whether such action would in the end have undesirable effects on the basic principles which govern American freedom of the press.
The second consideration is whether the situation justifies the repudiation of long established principles which have guided the American press and this Government in its relations with the American people and peoples of other nations, namely the free flow of information between the peoples of the world and free access to sources of information. It is on this principle among others that the American Government basically parts company with communism and I believe we should thoroughly evaluate suggestions of action which run counter to this principle. Reprisals breed retaliation and counterreprisals.
While understanding and appreciating the motives which prompted the introduction of Resolution 200, it is believed that the action recommended would not improve the situation of William N. Oatis, which is the primary purpose of the Resolution, nor would it serve the best interests of the American press and this Government. [Page 1281] In this connection reference is made to the Department’s confidential letter of August 3, 1951 outlining in connection with Senate Resolutions 175 and 178 the measures which the Department was taking and planned to take in an effort to obtain the release from prison in Czechoslovakia of William N. Oatis.6 Since that date a number of the proposed measures have been put into effect and the Department is considering further action to be taken in his behalf.
Sincerely yours,
Assistant Secretary
- Drafted by Virginia H. James (EUR/EE) and cleared with 16 officers in EUR/EE, EUR, P, SA/M, UNA, UNI, UNP, L/UNA, and CON(VD).↩
- Neither of the letters under reference is printed. Senator Connally’s letter transmitted a copy of Senate Resolution 200, introduced by Senator Herbert R. O’Conor of Maryland on September 5, and requested Department of State comment. (249.1111–Oatis, William N./9–651)↩
- For documentation on the Oatis case, see Documents 670 ff.↩
- See the Secretary of State’s memorandum of this conversation, Document 706.↩
- For documentation regarding the negotiation of the U.N. Headquarters Agreement of June 26, 1947, see Foreign Relations, 1947, vol. i, pp. 22 ff.↩
- Regarding the letter of August 3 to Senator Connally, see Document 703.↩