740.00119 E.W./10–2544: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)
8875. The Lakatos Government of Hungary,59 through its Foreign Minister Hennyey, transmitted on October 16 by way of the Swedish Government a message to the United States Government stating that Hungary had decided to cease hostilities against the United Nations and asking that the Governments of the three principal Allies inform it where and when plenipotentiaries of the Hungarian Government might be received with a view to concluding a treaty of armistice. The same message was communicated to Ambassador Steinhardt in Ankara together with an aide-mémoire containing certain requests of the Hungarian Government regarding the nature of the armistice terms.
Please inform the Foreign Office that the United States Government has not made any reply to the message in question since we have considered that, in so far as anything could be achieved by dealing with Horthy or with ministers appointed by him, it could best be done through the authorized mission now in Moscow. For your own information, it is not clear to us why Hennyey sent the message in question at a time when the Hungarian Government had already requested an armistice through its delegates in Moscow and had agreed to carry out the preliminary conditions required by the three Allied Governments.
Sent to London; repeated to Moscow.60