Office of the Historian

192. Telegram From the Embassy in Finland to the Department of State0

Helsinki, November 3, 1961, 3 p.m.

205. Called on Foreign Minister this morning. He thanked me most cordially for warm reception and pleasant hospitality he and President had enjoyed in US. With reference to situation created by Soviet note, he made following remarks:

The Soviet note came as great shock but as more shock than surprise as Finns have feared some Soviet action of this sort.1

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The Finn Government will take several days to formulate its reply to Soviet note. It will have to enter into some sort of discussions with Soviets but does not yet know exactly within what framework these will be conducted.

The Finn Government has no idea at the moment what Soviets intend to demand from it.

Finland does not feel it is menaced by NATO and does not accept the premises of Soviet note. It does not feel it is militarily menaced by West Germany either, but the “German problem has angles that must be considered in the light of history”. The Germans are an active people and there have after all been two world wars.

He talked last night with the President,2 who is keeping cool and optimistic. He hopes that President’s optimism will be justified. As all observers can see, the Finns are keeping cool and have genuine hope that they can arrive at satisfactory solution.

I remarked that, as he could see from reception Finnish party received in America, the American people have a very genuine liking for Finland and wish it well and that the US wants nothing from Finland but a genuine maintenance of its neutrality. In reply to this remark, he sighed and said with real feeling, “that is exactly what we want to maintain”.

Gufler
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 660E.61/11–361. Confidential. Repeated to Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Moscow, London, Paris, and Bonn.↩
  2. In telegram 207 from Helsinki, November 3, Gufler elaborated on this point, stating that the Finns had feared Soviet invocation of the 1948 treaty ever since the heightening of tensions over Berlin. (Ibid.)↩
  3. Gufler Kekkonen was in Los Angeles until November 2 when he returned to Finland.↩