Office of the Historian

740.00119 European War 1939/834: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld)

Washington, August 30, 1941—7 p.m.

178. The report referred to in your 389, August 29, appears to have its origin in an Overseas News Agency despatch date-lined London, August 27, to the effect that a strong attempt was being made to have President Roosevelt mediate between Finland and Russia and that some discussions to that end had been going on in Stockholm and Helsinki for the past fortnight. A despatch from the same source the following day stated that “American officials indicated today that while this Government would welcome a negotiated peace between Finland and Russia, no proposal for mediation between the two by President Roosevelt had been submitted through diplomatic channels” but that “the possibility was not ruled out that such a proposal had been or might be presented to the President through unofficial intermediaries”. Procopé was stated to have evinced a keen interest in the previous despatch but to have stated that he had no personal knowledge of such negotiations.

A New York Times despatch on August 28 from Stockholm stated that in answer to an inquiry in regard to the foregoing matter, a highly authoritative Finnish source had stated that the story was “an extremely interesting statement”. In an interview with the press here yesterday the Finnish Military Attaché25 is said to have stated that Finland would drop out of the war as soon as it got its borders protected.26

Hull
  1. Col. Per Zilliacus.↩
  2. An hour later in the immediately following telegram, the Department advised the Minister in Finland that “it is not believed desirable that you take any initiative in discussing this subject with Finnish officials at this time.”↩