Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume V

123 Opal, Chester H.: Telegram

The Ambassador in Poland (Gallman) to the Secretary of State

secret

Warsaw, March 17, 1949—5 p. m.

406. Embtel 387 March 16¹. I called on Modzelewski² at noon today at his request.

At the very outset Modzelewski said he had something very unpleasant to take up. On a number of occasions in the past, he said, articles on Poland appearing in the USIS Polish edition of the Bulletin³ had been found objectionable and the Embassy had been so told. Articles of that nature, however, continued to appear, and in the March 12 issue most offensive one appeared, one in which Poland was called a Soviet satellite, and so serious a view of this was taken, that the Polish Government now had to ask for the immediate recall of the official director responsible, Opal,⁴ who was persona non grata.

(The article in question appeared in State Department Bulletin 52, March 4, under Lake Success dateline March 3, first paragraph of which reads “President Truman’s proposal of UN aid to underdeveloped countries has been welcomed by every nation speaking to date in the Economic and Social Council except Poland. The Soviet satellite alleges that it is a scheme to expand exploitation by American big business”.)

I replied that I would telegraph the request, but at the same time suggest a review of the Polish Information Office activities in the States. I also wanted to explain, I continued, that our Polish Bulletin never contained articles prepared by Embassy officials. Turning to the March 12 issue which he had before him, I pointed out that the article in question originated in Lake Success. His reply here was that the “vulgar” attacks on Poland in the US press were one thing, but what appeared in an official publication of the US Embassy in Poland was something quite different. By appearing there it became “official”.

I said I could not agree. Items, merely by appearing in the Bulletin, did not become “official statement”.

He then turned from this line of argumentation and said he wanted to know what I personally thought of the practice of publishing in the Embassy Bulletin articles of the kind of the Lake Success story.

My reply was that we are living in unusual and trying times; that every day the Polish press carried vulgar, vile and false stories about the US; and that the basis of our whole informational program, radio broadcasts and bulletins alike, was to put the truth before the world.

Modzelewski then asked bluntly “do you regard Poland a Soviet satellite?” I replied “I am accredited as Ambassador to a formally recognized government.” This did not satisfy him, and he pressed on: “But, I repeat, do you regard Poland a satellite state?” I followed up, with emphasis, that I had given him my answer and I had nothing to add to what I had said.

Modzelewski then said that he found this interview doubly unpleasant. It was unpleasant to tell me one of our officers was persona non grata but what he found particularly unpleasant was that I had shown no understanding of his complaint about the Bulletin, and now, he said “I want to know when Mister Opal will be recalled?” I replied that in my 26 years in the diplomatic service I had never had a case of this kind to deal with, and I really did not know how long it would take for action on his government’s request. I would, though, as I had told him previously, telegraph his request at once.

His last words were that he hoped the Polish language Bulletin would resist from now on dealing with Polish questions and be devoted to telling the Polish people about the US, because he wanted to avoid such unpleasant meetings between us as we had today. I said I hoped very much myself that unpleasantness could be avoided.

The move against Opal shows clearly how telling our informational activities are. The move against him is, of course, calculated to disrupt this work as much as possible having been made so shortly after Schwinn’s⁵ departure. There is, I suppose, nothing to do but call him home and we shall get along as best as we can. We must for the present rely heavily on Ralph Jones.⁶ He is very capable.

My own position will become increasingly difficult. I knew a change would set in sooner or later. Modzelewski was clearly surprised at first at my stand today, and then angered.⁷

Gallman

1. Not printed; it reported that Modzelewski had requested an interview with Ambassador Gallman (123 Opal, Chester H.).
2. Zygmunt Modzelewski, Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs.
3. The Wireless Bulletin was the official news service of the Department of State. It was prepared by the Division of International Press and Publications and transmitted daily by radio (or wireless) to various foreign service posts around the world. The Wireless Bulletin contained full, official texts of pronouncements of the President, the Secretary of State, the Department of State, proceedings of the United Nations, editorial opinion from leading American newspapers, and other important information. Foreign language editions were distributed in various cities by the United States Information Service.
4. Chester H. Opal, Assistant Attaché at the Embassy in Poland.
5. Walter K. Schwinn, First Secretary of the Embassy in Poland, December 1946–February 1949.
6. Ralph A. Jones, Third Secretary of the Embassy in Poland.
7. On March 23, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, George V. Allen, announced that Chester Opal was being transferred to another post at the request of the Polish Government. Allen’s statement noted that the Wireless Bulletin article to which the Polish Government had taken exception contained, among other things, an immoderately worded denunciation of President Truman’s Inaugural Address by a duly accredited representative of the Polish Government. For the text of the statement, see Department of State Bulletin, April 3, 1949, p. 432.