Office of the Historian

740.00119 Potsdam/8–1545: Telegram

No. 1413
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Caffery)

secret
Washington, August 15, 1945—2 p.m.

3860. You may inform Bidault in confidence of the following decisions which were taken at Potsdam1 and which were not touched on in the public communiqué.2 (Sent to Paris 3860, repeated to London 6918, Moscow 1837).

1.
It was agreed that reparations should not be exacted from Austria.
2.
It was agreed that Allied troops should be withdrawn from Tehran and that further stages of withdrawal of troops from Iran should be considered at forthcoming meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers in London.
3.
It was agreed that Soviet proposals for revision of Control Council in Hungary should be accepted as basis for similar revisions in Rumania and Bulgaria.
4.
In connection with present discussion in Paris it was agreed that zone of Tangier including City of Tangier and area adjacent to it shall remain international in view of its strategic importance.
5.
It was recognized that the Montreux Convention on the Straits should be revised to meet present-day conditions and it was agreed that as the next step the three governments should separately institute direct conversations with the Turkish government.
6.
It was agreed a proposal of the United States regarding international inland waterways should be referred for consideration at the forthcoming meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers.
7.
American proposal regarding use of Allied property for satellite reparations or war trophies was accepted in principle but drafting of agreement was left to be worked out through diplomatic channels.
[Page 1557]

(Copies of American proposals referred to in paragraphs 6 and 7 are being forwarded by airmail for transmission to Bidault)

  • Byrnes
  • J[ames] C[lement] D[unn]
  1. For texts of the Conference decisions summarized below, see document No. 1383↩
  2. Document No. 1384.↩