Office of the Historian

740.0011 EW (Peace)/5–3149

The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador of the Soviet Union (Panyushkin)1

The Acting Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency the Ambassador of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and has the honor to refer to the Treaties of Peace concluded by the Allied and Associated Powers with Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania, which were signed in Paris on February 10, 1947.

The Government of the United States, in notes under date of April 2, 1949, charged the Governments of Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania with repeated and systematic violations of the Articles of the respective Treaties of Peace obligating those Governments to secure to all persons under their jurisdiction the enjoyment of human rights and of the fundamental freedoms. Having received replies to these notes which it regards as unsatisfactory, the United States Government has informed the Governments of Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania that it considers that a dispute has arisen with each of those Governments concerning the interpretation and execution of the respective Treaties of Peace. Notes informing the three Governments to this effect are being delivered in Sofia, Budapest and Bucharest on May 31, 1949.2

In these notes the United States Government invokes Article 36 of the Treaty of Peace with Bulgaria, Article 40 of the Treaty of Peace with Hungary, and Article 38 of the Treaty of Peace with Rumania, which provide procedures for the settlement of such disputes. The United States Chiefs of Mission in Sofia, Budapest and Bucharest are at the same time addressing letters to their British and Soviet colleagues enclosing copies of the relevant documents and requesting, in each case, a meeting of the three Chiefs of Mission to discuss the aforementioned disputes in accordance with the procedure specified in the respective Treaties. [Page 249] spective Reps can be brought up for consideration. Views of FonOff Socialist Republics would transmit the enclosed copies of the documents in question to the Governments of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, respectively, for their information as signatories of the Treaties of Peace.

Enclosures:

1.
Two copies of United States note to Bulgaria, April 2, 1949.
2.
Two copies of Bulgarian note to the United States, April 21, 1949.
3.
Two copies of United States note to Bulgaria, May 31, 1949.
4.
Two copies of United States note to Hungary, April 2, 1949.
5.
Two copies of Hungarian note to the United States, April 8, 1949.
6.
Two copies of United States note to Hungary, May 31, 1949.
7.
Two copies of United States note to Rumania, April 2, 1949.
8.
Two copies of Rumanian note to the United States, April 18, 1949.
9.
Two copies of United States note to Rumania, May 31, 1949.
Washington, May 31, 1949.
  1. Identical notes, mutatis mutandis, were also sent to the Ambassadors of the other governments which were signatories of the treaties of peace with Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania: Australia, New Zealand, India, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. A similar note was sent to the Canadian Ambassador whose government was a signatory only of the treaties of peace with Hungary and Romania. A similar note was also sent to the Greek Ambassador whose government was a signatory only of the treaty of peace with Bulgaria.↩
  2. Regarding the notes under reference here (more specifically identified in the list of enclosures to this note), see editorial note, supra.↩