800.51W89 U.S.S.R./90: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Bullitt)
184. In view of the interpretation given by the press to a statement issued by Mr. Peek without having been seen by the Department, announcing the extension of the facilities of the Second Export-Import Bank to do business with all countries except Russia, to the effect that this statement was designed to coerce the Soviet Government in the negotiations now in progress, I have informed the Soviet Ambassador that I stated to the press that neither I nor my associates in the Department read the Peek statement before it was published, that I had not read it since its publication and that the State Department has and has had nothing whatever to do with it. I told the Ambassador that I regretted extremely the interpretation given to the statement and I assured him that the State Department was not in any way a party to any attempt to exercise pressure on the Soviet Government. I expressed the hope that he and his Government would thoroughly understand how far away I am from the remotest sympathy with such a suggestion.