740.00119 Control (Bulgaria)/1–345: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)
13. Dept is giving consideration to Soviet aide-mémoire concerning Hungarian reparations and to points raised in your 5078 [5079], December 31, 10 p.m. Following is in response to your request for general guidance pending issuance of instructions on such specific points as may be raised in the course of negotiations.
Dept approves procedure of taking up the question of status of our representatives on Control Commission before attempting to reach a [Page 955] final decision on reparations question. We are not prepared at present to go so far as to refuse to participate in the armistice if our position in respect to the Control Commission is not accepted. In discussing this matter you may wish to inform Molotov that while we accepted the position of the Soviet Government that executive functions on the Control Commissions in Rumania and Bulgaria would be responsibility of the Soviet High Command, we are not satisfied with the manner in which these arrangements have worked out in practice. You may cite the fact that, for example, instructions appear to have been issued to Rumanian and Bulgarian Governments in name of the Allied Control Commissions without knowledge of the American representatives on these Commissions.
Dept does not desire to raise question of Lend-Lease in connection with this discussion. We are still inclined to disassociate ourselves from the reparations clause but our position in this matter might be modified to some extent by the outcome of the discussion of the statutes of the Control Commission.