740.00119 European War 1939/1565: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Hamilton) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 9—10:45 a.m.]
1031 bis. For the Secretary and the Under Secretary. Your 637, August 3, 2 p.m. On August 3 and 4 the British Ambassador here59 orally informed Ambassador Standley and me of the summary of the terms of surrender to be exacted from Italy, both the longer draft and the shorter formula for a purely military arrangement to be used in case of necessity. Clark Kerr, under instruction communicated the longer draft to Molotov and promptly received a reply along the lines of that communicated to Eden by the Soviet Chargé in London. Shortly thereafter Clark Kerr communicated the shorter draft to Molotov with the explanation stated in your telegram under reference. Clark Kerr told me yesterday in reply to my inquiry that the Soviet Government has as yet made no comment on the shorter draft.
I told Clark Kerr yesterday of the communication which our Government had made to the Soviet Government. Without my calling attention to it he expressed special gratification at the fact that our Government had asked the Soviet Government for suggestions and had stated that it would be glad to reply to any specific inquiries which the Soviet Government might care to make. He commented further that he doubted whether his Government or the American Government had yet been able to convince the Soviet Government that our two Governments really desired to collaborate with the Soviet Government. He said that the Soviet Government felt that the American and British Governments first consulted together and arrived at a decision and then simply communicated that decision to the Soviet Government for its information. The Soviet Government felt that it was not made a party during the consultative stage and therefore did not have a share in the formulating of decisions.
I commented that the communicating to the Soviet Government of information in regard to the plans and attitudes of the American and British Governments constituted an important step in the process of collaboration. He agreed and again expressed gratification at the fact that the American Government had expressly asked the Soviet Government for comment in regard to the terms of surrender to be exacted from Italy. I expressed the personal view that the next 3 to 6 months were likely to be a very important period, in that during that time the tendencies for or against collaboration among the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain would probably further [Page 348] crystallize and that I thought it important that the United States and Great Britain put forth special effort to strengthen and develop the trends in the direction of collaboration. Clark Kerr indicated that he heartily believes in trying to bring about greater collaboration with the Soviet Government.
- Sir Archibald Clark Kerr.↩