033.60C11/6–2944: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10 p.m.]
2351. For the President and the Secretary. In my conversation with Molotov last night, he referred to our conversation of June 335 in which I had transmitted to him the President’s verbal message regarding Mikolajczyk’s visit to the United States. Molotov recalled that the President had agreed to meet Mikolajczyk on the condition that he make no official statements while in the United States, whereas it had come to Molotov’s attention that Mikolajczyk had made such a statement to representatives of the press on June 14.
I interrupted him to explain that I had said the President’s condition was against public speeches, not statements to the press. (In checking on my return to the Embassy my interpreter’s notes of the June 3 conversation, I find that I had correctly stated the President’s [Page 1291] condition.) After some discussion Molotov fully accepted my explanation.
He continued, however, and called my attention to the fact that Mikolajczyk had spoken not only for himself but for the United States Government in connection with leaving boundary settlements till after the war. Molotov said that while he did not consider it expedient to discuss at the present time the merits of Mikolajczyk’s statement, he wished to draw my attention to the matter. I said I had not seen a full account of Mikolajczyk’s press interview and with that the subject was dropped.
In puzzling over what was in Molotov’s mind in mentioning this subject in the manner he did, I could not help but connect it with the previous subject of our conversation regarding the Soviet communications with Turkey.36 In this case he should have had a guilty conscience for not having informed us several weeks ago, and perhaps, Russian style, wanted to balance off any criticisms of his omission.
- See telegram 2014, June 7, from Moscow, p. 1276.↩
- See telegram 2327, June 28, from Moscow, vol. v, p. 863.↩