740.0011 EW (Peace)/2–1247
The Ambassador in France (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
Subject: Ceremonies Attending the Signing of the Peace Treaties with Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Finland
Sir: I have the honor to report, in confirmation of my telegrams on the subject, that the signature of the Treaties of Peace with Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Finland took place as scheduled on February 10, 1947.1
The ceremonies commenced at 11 a. m. with the signing of the Italian Treaty. Accompanied by Admiral Richard L. Conolly,2 Mr. James C. H. Bonbright3 of this Embassy, and Mr. John E. Utter of [Page 525] the State Department,4 I proceeded to the Salon de l’Horloge in the Foreign Office, where the delegations of twenty Allied Nations were assembled around the traditional large green table.
The ceremonies were presided over by M. Georges Bidault, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, who opened the meeting with a short message of greeting to the delegates (Enclosure No. 15). M. Bidault then invited the Italian Delegation, headed by the Marchese Lupi di Soragna, to join the assembled gathering and upon the latter’s arrival, addressed to him a few words of welcome (Enclosure No. 25). The Plenipotentiaries were then invited to go into the adjoining room to affix their signatures to the Treaty. The order of signing followed that set forth in the Treaty itself. The only Plenipotentiary absent was M. Modzelewski, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs whose train had been delayed, and M. Bidault made the suggestion, to which there was no objection, that he be permitted to sign as soon as he arrived. The proceedings were conducted with unusual rapidity and the signing was completed and the meeting adjourned within forty minutes.
The afternoon session, repeating the ritual of the morning, started at 3 o’clock with the signing of the Rumanian Treaty and continued intermittently until 6:15 when the last signature was affixed to the Finnish Treaty.
The schedule had originally been drawn up to allow for declarations by such delegations as wished to make them. The final decision to eliminate all such declarations resulted in lengthy intermissions between the signing of the different treaties, during which the delegations gathered for conversation in the other salons of the Foreign Ministry.
Inasmuch as the United States was not a signatory to the Treaty of Peace with Finland, I did not remain until the end of the ceremonies, but left at 5:40 p. m. after the signing of the Treaty with Hungary.
In the evening, the President of the French Republic gave a formal dinner for the Plenipotentiaries, followed by a large reception for the delegates and their wives at the Elysée Palace.
In addition to the enclosures mentioned above, I am transmitting herewith copies of the communiqués issued by M. Bidault at the conclusion of the ceremonies. As I have previously reported, these communiqués took the place of the procès-verbal which the French Government had originally proposed to draw up and which had been withdrawn at the insistence of the Soviet Ambassador.
Respectfully yours,
- For the texts of the Treaties of Peace with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, all dated at Paris February 10, 1947, see Department of State Treaties and other International Acts Series (TIAS), Nos. 1648, 1649, 1650, and 1951, or 61 Stat, (pt.2) 1245, 1757, 1915, and 2065. For the text of the Treaty of Peace with Finland (February 10, 1947), to which the United States was not a party, see British Cmd. 7484.↩
- Ranking Naval Adviser, United States Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference.↩
- Counselor of Embassy in Paris.↩
- Political Adviser in the Division of African Affairs.↩
- The enclosures, filed with the despatch, are not printed.↩
- The enclosures, filed with the despatch, are not printed.↩