861.181/2–1750

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Kirk ) to the Acting Director of the Office of Eastern European Affairs ( Reinhardt )

secret

Dear Fred: I appreciate the information contained in your letter of February 3, 1950,1 with regard to Mrs. Tucker, and the general problem of exit visas for Soviet wives. In accordance with your request, I enclose a résumé of the representations which the Embassy has made in this connection from 1945 to date.1

While no action has been taken since 1948, you will recall our telegram #2192 [2912] of November 22, 1949, and the Department’s reply #906 of December 9.2

In the Embassy’s telegram #427 of February 7, 1950,3 we expressed the view that there seems little likelihood that further representations on the merits or action on the basis of reciprocity might produce results at this time. We similarly endorsed the Department’s feeling that representations on behalf of Mrs. Tucker alone would risk aggravating her situation, and that the most appropriate means of minimizing that risk appears to us to be to continue to regard the problem as a collective one.

Unfortunately, I cannot suggest any course promising to be fruitful at the moment other than the possibility, which I am sorry to say seems against the odds, of a direct confidential approach by the President to Stalin. No doubt the desirability of such a communication has already been considered. I might emphasize, however, that, if undertaken, it would appear important from the standpoint of stimulating a favorable response that its confidential nature be stressed.

You are, of course, aware of the present situation in regard to these wives. While their position is a dead-end street as things stand, they are nevertheless living temporarily relatively well and apparently without Soviet molestation, at least in the cases where the husbands are still in Moscow. Consequently, the possibility that representations may jeopardize them is, as indicated above, an important factor in any consideration of steps to be taken on their behalf.

Sincerely yours,

Alan G. Kirk
  1. Not printed.
  2. Not printed.
  3. Telegram 2912 from Moscow on November 22, 1949, is not printed, but see footnote 1, Foreign Relations, 1949, vol. v, p. 682.
  4. Not printed; but see footnote 4, p. 1102.