Office of the Historian

860c.01/7–245

No. 496
The Secretary of State ad interim to the President
Washington, July 2, 1945.

Memorandum for the President

Subject: Formalities of Recognition of the new Polish Provisional Government of National Unity.

There is enclosed for your approval a suggested reply to the Polish Prime Minister announcing the establishment of diplomatic relations with the new Government. There is also enclosed a suggested public [Page 732] statement for you to issue at 7:00 p.m., Eastern War Time, on the day chosen for recognition.1

For technical and legal reasons, it is essential to fix an exact hour for the establishment of diplomatic relations. It is proposed, therefore, if you approve the attached drafts, to telegraph them ahead of time to Ambassador Harriman with instructions that he inform the Polish Ambassador in Moscow confidentially in advance of the action to be taken by you and of the exact hour of recognition. This step is necessary in order to make sure that the Polish Government is appraised beforehand of the exact hour on which recognition is to take place.

If you approve the attached drafts,2 I will see that the mechanics are worked out.

Joseph C. Grew
[Enclosure 1]
Suggested Message From the President to the Polish Prime Minister Regarding Recognition of the New Polish Government3

I am gratified to learn from your message4 to me transmitted through your Ambassador at Moscow that the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity was established on June 28, 1945 in conformity with the Crimea decision. I am pleased to note that Your Excellency’s Government has recognized in their entirety the decisions of the Crimea Conference on the Polish question thereby confirming the intention of Your Excellency’s Government to proceed with the holding of elections in Poland in conformity with the provisions of the Crimea decisions. The Government of the United States of America therefore on the basis of its assurances given at the Crimea Conference hereby establishes diplomatic relations with the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity. I have chosen as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Poland Mr. Arthur Bliss Lane, whom I have instructed to proceed to Warsaw as soon as possible.

Accept [etc.]

Harry S Truman
  1. This enclosure bears the following manuscript endorsement by Truman: “OK HST”. The suggested statement was issued on July 5 with only minor editorial changes. See document No. 501.↩
  2. The original of Grew’s memorandum bears the following manuscript endorsement by Truman: “Approved HST”.↩
  3. Truman signed the draft as submitted and it was dispatched for delivery to Osóbka-Morawski on July 5. The text of this message was issued as a White House press release on the same date. See Department of State Bulletin, vol. xiii, p. 48.↩
  4. See ibid., vol. xiii, p. 47↩