Office of the Historian

740.00119 E.W. 1939/9–744: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)

Washington, September 7, 1944—7 p.m.

2152. The Department has just this afternoon received the full text of the separate declaration regarding Transylvania proposed by the British in lieu of Article XVII of the Russian draft of the armistice. Examination of this text confirms the view expressed in our 2139 September 5 namely that we believe treatment of the Transylvanian question in a separate document would serve only to give undue prominence to a matter which we have consistently preferred to hold over for the general settlement. Should your British colleague be instructed to insist on the proposal for a separate declaration, you should say that your Government is unwilling to be a signatory thereto. The Department is still willing, of course, to have included in the armistice the clause on Transylvania as it appears in the Soviet draft or with any other wording which meets the Department’s position as set forth in your previous instructions.

With regard to the third paragraph of your telegram, the Department had not yet determined at the time of its earlier reference to political representation whether this Government would be prepared fully to participate in an Allied Control Commission. You may now inform Mr. Molotov that it is intended that the American representatives sent to Rumania should constitute the American representation on the Allied Control Commission, now that it has been agreed that such a commission should be created, and say that the Department hopes the Soviet Government will indicate its concurrence to the despatch of such an American mission at an early date. The names, ranks and titles of the members of the mission will be communicated to the Soviet Government as soon as they are known.

For your own information, the Department’s plans contemplate that a part of the personnel of its mission to Rumania will probably be used on the staff of our diplomatic mission to that country when direct relations with the Rumanian Government are resumed.

Sent to Moscow; repeated to London.20

Hull
  1. As No. 7257.↩