19. Memorandum of Conversation0
SUBJECT
- Presentation of Credentials
PARTICIPANTS
- U.S.
- The President
- Mr. Angier Biddle Duke, Chief of Protocol
- Mr. William J. Tonesk, Deputy Chief of Protocol
- Mr. Richard H. Davis, Deputy Assistant Secretary, EUR
- Bulgaria
- Mr. Lyubomir Dimitrov Popov,
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
- Plenipotentiary of Bulgaria to the United States
The President began by asking the new Bulgarian Minister, Lyubomir Dimitrov Popov, what were the principal problems in US-Bulgarian relations. The Minister responded by saying “trade”, pointing out lack of MFN which made the difference on duties very high. For instance, Bulgarian tobacco had to pay a duty of 35 compared to a competitor with MFN who paid only 12. In response to the President’s question, the Minister said Bulgaria was interested in buying engineering products, particularly manufacturing plants. The Minister said they were encouraged by the recent agreement in principle to complete a financial claims settlement and hoped that with the establishment of a Trade Office in New York some progress could be made in developing US-Bulgarian trade.
The President commented that the Minister was undoubtedly familiar with the Congressional action taken last year in denying MFN to Poland and Yugoslavia. The President expressed the opinion that it was unlikely that in the present state of international relations the Congress would consider restoring MFN to those countries who do not now enjoy it.
In a brief discussion of economic relationships in the Bloc, the Minister said that Bulgaria’s foreign trade with the Western nations is about 20% of the total whereas with the USSR it is 50%; a great portion of Bulgaria’s exports consisted of agricultural products, especially tomatoes and grapes. The USSR represented a vast market for Bulgaria, although his country was still relatively under-developed.
The President asked the Minister how long he had been a Communist. Mr. Popov replied that his father had been killed as a Communist in [Page 43] 1923 in an anti-Fascist revolt in Bulgaria and that he had been brought up as a Communist. Bulgaria had by tradition and history had close relations with Moscow. The Russians had liberated Bulgaria from five centuries’ rule under the Turks. Marxist Socialism had always had a strong appeal in Bulgaria and Dimitrov had been the Bulgarian hero of the workers movement.
The President asked if the Chinese were active in Eastern Europe and why the present situation existed in Albania. The Minister replied that the Albanians had a young and immature leadership; their relations with Greece were bad and indeed a state of war still theoretically existed. Albania feels itself surrounded by enemies. These, in his opinion, were the principal reasons for the Albanian position.
The President then asked about the Sino-Soviet dispute and whether its origins lay in ideology or in history. The Minister replied he really did not understand the present situation and did not know much about it. He expressed the personal opinion that the rift reflected “nationalism”, the isolation of China and the size of its population.
The Minister then briefly sketched the history of the Bulgarian Communist Party under the leadership of Dimitrov, using this to conclude that Western political leaders erred in the view that the Communists were always monolithic; there had always been disputes and disagreements in the Communist movement.
The discussion was terminated with the President wishing the Minister well in his mission in Washington.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 12–1 Bul-US. Limited Official Use. Drafted by Davis and approved by the White House on June 4. The meeting was held at the White House.↩