Editorial Note
In early June 1950 the Romanian press launched a propaganda campaign against the alleged subversive activity of the American Legation in Bucharest based upon an incident in which military personnel assigned to the Legation disposed of a small quantity of obsolete small arms ammunition in a suburban Bucharest lake near the residence of Assistant Army Attaché Capt. Herschel Hutsinpiller. The two American enlisted men directly involved in the incident left Romania on June 10. On June 14 the Romanian Government demanded the withdrawal of Captain Hutsinpiller. Acting on instructions contained in telegram 215, June 17, to Bucharest, not printed, Chargé Williams orally and in an aide-mémoire of June 20 refuted the substance of the accusations against Captain Hutsinpiller but agreed to his withdrawal in conformity with customary diplomatic practice.
[Page 1069]Captain Hutsinpiller left Romania on June 25. For the text of the Legation aide-mémoire of June 20, released to the press in Washington on June 21, see Department of State Bulletin, July 3, 1950, pages 29–30, or American Foreign Policy, 1950–1955: Basic Documents, volume II, page 2150. For a statement issued to the press by the Department of State on June 21 explaining some of the details of the “ammunition dumping” incident, see Department of State Bulletin, July 3, 1950, page 30.