PPS files, lot 64 D 563, “USSR 1953”
No. 574
Memorandum by Carlton Savage of the
Policy Planning Staff to the Director of the Staff (Nitze)
Since the death of Stalin on March 5, 1953 there have been more Soviet gestures toward the West than at any other similar period. These cover a large part of the field of tension and controversy between the East and the West. The following is a check list of Soviet gestures:
- 1.
- Agreement to exchange sick and wounded prisoners of war.
- 2.
- Proposal for the resumption of armistice talks in Korea on what appears to be a reasonable basis.
- 3.
- Proposal for British-Soviet talks in Berlin to reduce air incidents in Germany.
- 4.
- Statement by General Chuikov that a conference “called to prepare a peace treaty with Germany and the reunification of the country corresponds fully and wholly to the Soviet Union’s attitude.”
- 5.
- Soviet admission in propaganda that the United States and Britain had a hand in the defeat of Germany in 1945.
- 6.
- Soviet permission for a group of American correspondents to enter Russia.
- 7.
- Soviet approach to a Norwegian representative at the UN, discussing a possible meeting between President Eisenhower and Malenkov to consider subjects of tension including atomic energy control and disarmament.
In view of the possibility that these Soviet moves might lead to general negotiations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, this would seem to be an appropriate time to determine the position that U.S. should take in such negotiations.