Microfilm telegram files, “Moscow FY 53”: Telegram
No. 581
The Ambassador-Designate in the Soviet
Union (Bohlen) to
the Department of State1
niact
1466. Accompanied by Chargé d’Affaires I called on Molotov this afternoon and handed him the copies of the letters of credence and recall of my predecessor and requested him to arrange an appointment with the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Molotov said he expected that this could be arranged “within the next few days” and accordingly as instructed I left with him for information a copy of the remarks2 I would make on that occasion.
The visit was entirely protocol in nature and Molotov made no attempt to raise any matter of business nor did I. Molotov made no remarks of any particular significance but was extremely cordial in welcoming me to Moscow recalling our association during the war when he said our two countries had cooperated to their mutual benefit and to the benefit of the world as a whole. He also mentioned that my acquaintanceship with Stalin and with the members of the present Soviet Government would be an asset.
Molotov looked grayer and older than I recalled him but appeared in vigorous health and good spirits.3
- Repeated for information to London, Paris, and Bonn.↩
- See Document 579.↩
- This is the only official report of this call upon Molotov; for Bohlen’s brief personal recollections of the meeting, see Bohlen, Witness to History, p. 343.↩