Editorial Note
In a note of April 14 to the Legation in Romania, the Romanian Foreign Ministry replied to the Legation’s note of March 6 regarding the Romanian Government’s demand for the closing of the United States Information Service office in Bucharest (see telegram 68, March 4, to Bucharest, page 1053). The lengthy Romanian reply claimed that the United States Information Service was devoted to espionage, subversion, and propaganda. In a note transmitted to the Romanian Foreign Ministry on April 26, the Legation in Romania replied to the Romanian note of April 14. The Legation note, sent in pursuance of instructions contained in telegram 138, April 24, to Bucharest, not printed (124.665/4–1550), took the view that it was unnecessary to refute in detail the contentions of the Foreign Ministry note, and that it “would be ludicrous if they were not so serious in their implications for that understanding between peoples which is essential for peace”. The note categorically denied charges of improper conduct by employees of the United States Information Service, and reaffirmed the view that information and cultural exchange constituted a normal and proper function of a diplomatic mission and could contribute to understanding between peoples. At the time of the release to the press on April 26 of the Romanian note of April 14 and the American reply of April 26, the Department of State also issued a lengthy summary reviewing Romanian Government actions against the United States Information Service in Bucharest and refuting allegations made in the Romanian note of April 14. For the texts of the Romanian Foreign Ministry note of April 14, the Legation’s reply of April 26, and the Department of State summary issued to the press on April 26, see Department of State Bulletin, May 8, 1950, pages 732–735. The Legation note of April 26 is also printed in American Foreign Policy, 1950–1955: Basic Documents, volume II, pages 2147–2148.