Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, Paris Peace Conference: Proceedings, Volume III

740.00119 Council/7–2846: Telegram

The Ambassador in France (Caffery) to the Secretary of State

us urgent
Niact

Paris, July 28, 1946.
[Received July 28—1:15 p.m.]

3690. Delsec 751. Upon Vyshinsky’s initiative the Deputies again this afternoon discussed the publication of the draft treaties but no agreement was possible as both the Soviets and British maintained the positions described in Delsec 749 July 27.³⁵ Jebb has agreed to consult Attlee upon his arrival this evening and to inform the other Ministers whether full publication may be made making the release tomorrow evening for Tuesday morning’s papers.

As a result of the Soviet’s insistence the Deputies likewise agreed that the last two paragraphs of the US reservation in respect of Hungarian reparations³⁶ should be omitted from the published text as well as from the text to be communicated to the Hungarian Government agreement having been reached this afternoon to give the treaties to the ex-enemy states today.

In accepting the deletion of the last two paragraphs of the US reservation to article 21 of the Hungarian Treaty, we stated that it should be clearly understood that we were not withdrawing our reservation in any way and that the US reserved the right to communicate the statement of its position on that article to the other members of the Conference in any manner it may choose.

If agreement is reached upon the release of the text tomorrow these two paragraphs should be omitted in the text given to the press in Washington.

We are continuing to send the agreed texts of the five treaties by-teletype and will follow this with the texts of the unagreed articles to be inserted in their proper places in the treaties. As soon as final agreement is reached with respect to publication a further message will be sent today.³⁷

Caffery

35. Not printed; it reported that the Deputies at their meeting on the evening of July 27 had not been able to reach agreement with regard to the publication of the texts of the draft treaties. The Soviet Union insisted that the entire drafts be made available to the press and the British maintained that only the agreed articles should be given out. (740.00119 Council/7–2746)
36. For full text of the United States reservation with respect to Hungarian reparations, see footnote 13, p. 5.
37. In telegram 3700 (Delsec 755) of July 29, Caffery reported that it had been decided to release the full texts of the five draft peace treaties including the agreed and unagreed articles. The texts would be given to the press on July 30, 12 noon, Paris time, for publication at midnight. (CFM Files) The Deputies’ decision reflected correspondence between the Foreign Ministers, then in their respective capitals, from July 19 through July 28. The matter had been complicated by a leak which resulted in the publication of portions of the draft peace treaties in the American press on July 23. File 740.00119 Council contains documentation on the issue.