Office of the Historian
No. 788

611.61/7–551

President Truman to the President of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Shvernik)1

[Washington, July 7, 1951.]

I have the honor of transmitting to you a resolution adopted by the Congress of the United States2 with a request that its contents be made known by your government to the people of the Soviet Union.

This resolution expresses the friendship and goodwill of the American people for all the peoples of the earth and it also reemphasizes the profound desire of the American Government to do everything in its power to bring about a just and lasting peace.

As Chief Executive of the United States, I give this resolution my sincere approval. I add to it a message of my own to the Soviet people in the earnest hope that these expressions may help form a [Page 1611] better understanding of the aims and purposes of the United States.

The unhappy results of the last few years demonstrate that formal diplomatic negotiations among nations will be largely barren while barriers exist to the friendly exchange of ideas and information among peoples. The best hope for a peaceful world lies in the yearning for peace and brotherhood which lies deep in the heart of every human being. But peoples who are denied the normal means of communication will not be able to attain that mutual understanding which must form the basis for trust and friendship. We shall never be able to remove suspicion and fear as potential causes of war until communication is permitted to flow, free and open, across international boundaries.

The peoples of both our countries know from personal experience the horror and misery of war. They abhor the thought of future conflict which they know would be waged by means of the most hideous weapons in the history of mankind. As the leaders of their respective governments, it is our sacred duty to pursue every honorable means which will bring to fruition their common longing for peace. Peace is safest in the hands of the people and we can best achieve the goal by doing all we can to place it there.

I believe that if we can acquaint the Soviet people with the peace aims of the American people and government, there will be no war.

I feel sure that you will wish to have carried to the Soviet people the text of this resolution adopted by the American Congress.

  1. The source text is the copy attached to the memorandum, supra.Transmission of this letter was agenda item 1 of the Secretary of State’s meeting with the President on July 5. The Secretary’s memorandum of the discussion of that item read as follows:

    “The President said that he would be delighted to have Senator McMahon and Congressman Ribicoff come to the White House for a ceremony and photographs in connection with the Resolution. Someone should get in touch with Mr. Connally.

    “(Arrangements made for the ceremony at 3:00 p. m. July 6.)” (Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation, lot 65D238)

    The text of the communication printed here was transmitted in telegram 15 to Moscow, July 6, 5 p.m. with instructions that it and the McMahon–Ribicoff Resolution (transmitted to the Embassy in telegram 16, July 6) be delivered to the Soviet Foreign Minister. (611.61/7–651) Senator McMahon and Representative Ribicoff accompanied Secretary of State Acheson in a call upon President Truman on the afternoon of July 6 at which time this communication was read by the Senator and Congressman and presumably formally approved by President Truman. McMahon and Ribicoff spoke to newsmen at the White House following the ceremony. (Department of State Wireless Bulletin, No. 164, July 6, 1951, p. 1) Telegram 29 from Moscow, July 7, reported that the communication to Shvernik had been delivered to the Soviet Foreign Ministry that morning. (611.61/7–751) The text of the communication was released to the press by the White House on July 7. (Department of State Bulletin, July 16, 1951, p. 87) In a statement issued to the press also on July 7 (ibid.), the Department of State announced that the Voice of America would broadcast to the Soviet Union President Truman’s communication to Shvernik and the enclosed resolution two times an hour, 24 hours a day, for the coming three days. In a statement issued to the press on July 14, the Department of State announced that the Voice of America would that day begin calling attention, in its Russian-language programs, to the failure of the Soviet Government to transmit to the Soviet peoples the text of the McMahon-Ribicoff Resolution as forwarded by President Truman to Shvernik. The Department also released the text of the first of a series of basic Voice of America scripts on the subject. (Ibid., July 23, 1951, pp. 144–145)

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  2. Document 786.↩