870.00/47
The Secretary of State to President Roosevelt
My Dear Mr. President: Just as the Department was despatching to you the Acting Secretary’s letter of June 10, 1944, relating to the proposed agreement between the British and Soviet Governments regarding Rumania and Greece, Lord Halifax handed to Mr. Stettinius a further telegram from the Prime Minister and one from the Foreign Office on this subject, copies of which are attached for your information.93
Mr. Churchill’s further exposition of the British case did not overcome our objections or seem to us to warrant any change in our views toward this dangerous proposal. You will be interested to note, however, that the Prime Minister refers to the British sacrifice for the Greeks in 1941 (but not the Greek sacrifice for British); that he openly applies the proposition to the entire Balkan region by mentioning [Page 125] Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, in addition to Rumania and Greece; and that he advances our position in South America as an analogy.
The Foreign Office telegram touches upon another and extremely disturbing aspect of this matter which the Department planned to take up with you as soon as the immediate issue was disposed of. This is the fact that the British did not discuss a proposal of this nature with us until after it had been put up to the Russians and the latter inquired whether we had been consulted.
The Foreign Office, apparently realizing belatedly that Mr. Churchill’s frank telegram to you had exposed Lord Halifax’s failure to mention this aspect of the question to me, now describes the whole thing as the “Soviet Government’s proposal” and explains unconvincingly that it “arose out of a chance remark” of the Foreign Secretary to the Soviet Ambassador at London. The Prime Minister’s telegram clearly stated, however, that the British “suggested to the Russian Ambassador that we should agree between ourselves” and indicated that this Government would have been faced with a concluded spheres-of-influence agreement between the British and Russians if the latter had simply agreed without raising the question of our position.
You may want to call this to the Prime Minister’s attention. A suggested draft is attached for possible use in this connection.94
Faithfully yours,