Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume IV

124.60H3/1–1347

The Chargé in Yugoslavia (Hickok) to the Yugoslav Prime Minister (Tito)¹

Belgrade, January 10, 1947.

My Dear Mr. Prime Minister: With reference to my communication of January 7, I have the honor to inform Your Excellency upon instructions² from my Government that the United States Government has fully and carefully investigated the charges raised in your note of September 10, 1946³ and in the trial of certain Yugoslav subjects just concluded. It has found and categorically states that Embassy officers have not engaged in subversive or unfriendly activities aimed against your Government, nor have they offered support or assistance from United States sources to opponents of your Government.

My Government protests vigorously against charges of this nature being made by the Yugoslav Government against representatives of a friendly state. As Your Excellency may remember telling Senator Pepper over a year ago,⁴ the Embassy was and is entitled to inform the American Government of developments and trends in Yugoslavia. To do so at the time of the so-termed acts of espionage it was necessary that contacts be made with all sections of the people, including, inevitably, those in opposition to the existing Government.

The purpose of these contacts was not subversive and it is incredible that the word “espionage” should be used in connection with the actions of representatives of the United States Government which has demonstrated so clearly its interest in the rehabilitation of Yugoslavia. Incredible though this may be, the recent trial appears to have left a widespread impression that the unusual severity of the sentences meted out to the accused was due in large part to their connection with representatives of the American Embassy in Belgrade. It is believed that an act of clemency on the part of your Government toward the condemned would go far to alleviate that impression, an impression which I am sure is not desired by your Government, and it is the hope of my Government that such an act will be found to be possible.

Respectfully yours,

T. A. Hickok

1. The source text was transmitted to the Department as enclosure No. 2 to despatch 592, January 13 from Belgrade, not printed.
2. The instructions under reference were set forth in telegram 16, January 8, to Belgrade, supra.
3. A summary of the note under reference here was sent to the Department in telegram 939, September 18, 1946, from Belgrade. Telegram 939 is not printed, but see footnote 76, p. 954, Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. vi .
4. For a report on the meeting of October 29, 1945 between Marshal Tito and Senator Claude D. Pepper of Florida, see telegram 601, October 30, 1945, from Belgrade, ibid., 1945, vol. v, p. 1276.