701.6454/5: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Minister in Switzerland (Harrison)

1571. The statement quoted in your 2776 May 2 is being repeated as requested. Pelényi is a professor at Dartmouth College. He was recently reported to be favorable in principle to the idea of such a committee, though already under attack in the Leftist Hungarian–American press.

[Page 874]

The following is a paraphrase of a telegram sent to the usual missions:

The question of Eckhardt’s leadership of a resistance committee has not been before the Department for consideration or approval. Recent reports indicate that he does not seek and probably would not accept any position which requires activity of a public nature. The Department had not known of the proposed committee of envoys under Barcza and Pelényi until the receipt of Lisbon’s telegram of April 29.59 We prefer not to show any particular interest in these plans in view of the indications that the Hungarian envoys are looking for sponsorship from this Government especially. In affording temporary facilities for communication it was and is the purpose only to make certain that advantages in furthering resistance to the Germans should not be lost.

It is not yet known what attitude will be adopted by the Russians toward the Hungarians abroad. The Soviet Minister at Stockholm is reported to have received Ullein-Reviczky and the British are also reported to have offered to transmit messages to individuals in Hungary. Thus, it appears that the plan for dealing with the Hungarian envoys is developing in general along the lines of the British proposal circularized to you in the Department’s telegram dated April 17,60 even though several weeks have elapsed without any specific evidence of effective liaison between the potential resistance groups in Hungary and the Hungarians abroad, or of active resistance to the Germans within Hungary.

A further instruction will follow as soon as the Department can evaluate the results of the British initiative both in the matter of the suggested joint policy of the principal Allied Governments and in establishing underground contacts.

Hull
  1. Telegram 1302, p. 870.
  2. Telegram 1065 to Lisbon, p. 868.