Office of the Historian

861.458/14: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt)

Washington, November 4, 1939—3 p.m.

228. No message of felicitation will be sent direct by the President on November 7, the Soviet national holiday.95 There is no reason, however, why you should not convey customary felicitations.

Hull
  1. In a memorandum of October 31, 1939, by George T. Summerlin, Chief of the Division of Protocol, he wrote that, in view of present conditions, “regardless of the manner in which the telegram is drafted there may be more adverse comment than usual.” The Chief of the Division of European Affairs, Pierrepont Moffat, noted upon this: “Given the recent inexplicable attitude toward us of the Soviet authorities, I am inclined this year to omit a congratulatory telegram & to confine ourselves to having cards left at the Embassy here.” (861.458/14)↩