740.00119 EW/12–2744: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)
2893. The Department is replying to the Soviet Embassy’s aide-mémoire, (reDeptel 2889, December 26, 8 p.m.), indicating the willingness [Page 939] of this Government to resume at once in Moscow the conversations among the three principal Allied Governments on armistice terms for Hungary, to be communicated to representatives of the “Provisional National Government of Hungary” recently established at Debrecen.
The course of military and political events in Hungary has not altered in any fundamental respect the views of the Department on terms of Hungarian surrender as already transmitted to you. (ReEmbs 4807, December 13 and 4838, December 15.)
Since the military value of possible Hungarian help in the war against Germany is a matter which the Russians are in the best position to judge, the Department will not at this juncture do more than re-emphasize its preference for article 1 of the Bulgarian armistice over article 1 of the Rumanian armistice as a model for Hungary.
The Department did not consider that its position on the reparations question was affected by the delays and uncertainties which have arisen with respect to the conclusion of an armistice with Hungary (reEmbs 4950 December 21)88 and therefore thought it desirable that this Government’s views on Hungarian reparations be presented to the Soviet Government at the earliest appropriate moment, leaving to your discretion the timing of the presentation (reDeptel 2846 December 18). Since the tripartite talks on armistice terms are now to be resumed, you will be able to state your Government’s position on reparations when the text of Article 13 is discussed.
The Department’s views on the questions raised in last paragraph of your 5011, December 26, 10 p.m. will form the subject of separate instructions to be sent to you immediately.
For your confidential information, the Department had hoped that the matter of the formation of a Hungarian provisional government with which the Allied Governments would sign an armistice would be made the subject of consultation among the three Allied Governments. Although the authorities which have now been set up at Debrecen appear to be broadly representative of the pro-Allied political forces in Hungary, pending an examination of more detailed information concerning this group the Department cannot make a definite statement of its willingness to give formal recognition to it as the provisional government of Hungary.
The formation of a provisional government raises the question of American representation in Hungary. H. F. Arthur Schoenfeld, who has been appointed American Political Representative, is now in the Department and will shortly proceed to Italy where a part of his staff is being assembled. You may inform the Soviet Government of his designation, saying also that arrangements will be made for his entry into Hungary as soon as an armistice is concluded.
[Page 940]A recent telegram from Caserta states that the British political representative, Gascoigne, is in Italy prepared to leave for Hungary as soon as the matter can be cleared with the Soviet Government. British section of prospective Allied Control Commission for Hungary is also ready to proceed to Hungary on short notice.
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