760F.62/556
Memorandum of Conversations, by the Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Moffat)
The Czechoslovak Chargé d’Affaires, the Yugoslav Chargé d’Affaires, and the Polish Chargé d’Affaires called on me one after the other this morning, each one to ask about Ambassador Wilson’s visit to Praha.82 They were aware that we had disclaimed any direct connection between his trip and the Czechoslovak-Sudeten negotiations, but all three pointed out that the coincidence of his arrival with that of Lord Runciman was so marked that they wished I would tell them in confidence the circumstances of his trip. I told them that for some time the idea of a visit on behalf of Ambassador Wilson to neighboring capitals had been under consideration as we found that frequent informal contact between American representatives who were dealing with the same problems was exceedingly useful. The fact that Mr. Wilson’s visit coincided with Lord Runciman’s arrival was purely fortuitous. As a matter of fact he was remaining in Praha less than twenty-four hours and was visiting Warsaw on the same trip.
With varying degrees of feeling, they all expressed regret that there was not a more definite intention on the part of the United States to join Britain in settling the Czechoslovak-Sudeten controversy than appeared. They all referred to an article, or editorial, in the London Times to this effect. All three then went on to say that they had scant [Page 540] hope that the Runciman intervention would be successful; that the problem was as nearly insoluble as any they could imagine; and both the Czechoslovak and Yugoslav Chargés d’Affaires expressed the opinion that even if Henlein should want to effect a compromise this would not be approved by Germany.
The Czechoslovak Chargé told me that he had just received a telegram from Praha indicating that Goebbels had given instructions to start in a new press campaign against Czechoslovakia.
- See despatch No. 233, August 6, from the Minister in Czechoslovakia, infra.↩