740.0011 European War 1939/14574: Telegram
The Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 1—11:50 p.m.]
394. Press today publishes authorized statement as follows:
“Certain foreign newspapers and radio broadcasts in recent days spread rumors that there is disappointment in Finland at results thus far obtained by our defense force. Hence, it is stated, negotiations were begun in Helsinki and Stockholm with view to getting head of state in a certain country to mediate peace negotiations between Finland and Soviet Union.27 These rumors are groundless.”
- On this same day, in telegram No. 4003 from London, Ambassador John G. Winant reported similar press notices of rumored negotiations. Some time previously, the Ambassador of the Soviet Union in the United Kingdom, Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky, had mentioned that it would help the Allied war situation if peace could be established between Finland and the Soviet Union, perhaps with the United States as mediator. (740.0011 European War 1939/14563)↩