Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Europe: Political and Economic Developments, Volume IV, Part 2

No. 801

611.61/8–851

Department of State Press Release No. 709

[Washington,] August 8, 1951.

At his press conference today,¹ Secretary Acheson made the following statement:

I am glad to note that the Soviet Government has finally seen fit to release the text of the Congressional Resolution expressing the friendship of the American people for the peoples of the Soviet Union which was transmitted by President Truman to Mr. Shvernik over a month ago.² This is a step forward. The peoples of the USSR have now seen, in striking contrast to what they are continuously told by their own government, an assurance that the American people and the government of the United States are earnestly seeking a real peace. The members of Congress deserve our thanks for wisely adopting the resolution which made it possible to get this truth to the peoples of the USSR.

In expressing satisfaction over the Soviet Government’s disclosure of the Congressional resolution of peace and friendship, let me add the hope that this may be the first of many actions to permit the peoples of the Soviet Union to catch up with the facts of the world situation, particularly with respect to the attitudes and policies of other peoples and their Governments.

The iron curtain remains a basic obstacle to the attainment of that peace which will ease the tension in people’s minds everywhere. It is vital that it not merely be penetrated occasionally by a ray of truth but that it some day cease to exist—and the sooner the better for the realization of the general hope for a peaceful and secure world.

There is one phrase used by Mr. Shvernik in his letter with which I think we can all agree. That is his reference to the necessity that governments must encourage by every means the support of peace not just with words but with deeds. These deeds are exactly what we have been awaiting from the Soviet Union. Mr. Shvernik states that the duty of all peace-loving peoples consists in steadfastly carrying on a policy for the prevention of war and for the preservation of peace, of not permitting an armaments race, of attaining the limitation of armaments and the prohibition of atomic weapons with the establishment of inspection over the implementation of such a prohibition.

Since the end of the war the United Nations, which was ignored in Mr. Shvernik’s letter, has been working to attain precisely these objectives. But its work has been obstructed continually by the Soviet Government. If the Soviet Union now wants to reach concrete realistic agreements, all of these objectives can be realized within the United Nations.

However, the Soviet communication brings up again the subject of the vague “Five-Power Pact.” Why only five powers to make peace? We already have a peace pact, not only among five powers but among sixty nations, in the United Nations Charter.

The Soviet communication uses the word “peace” much too loosely. We hold “peace” to be more than a word on a printed page.

“Peace” for us is the opportunity to live our own lives in full liberty and to work together in true friendship with all peoples of this earth towards creation of a better life. “Peace” is freedom and justice and progress for all mankind.

I wish again to invite the Soviet Government to join us wholeheartedly on the United Nations road to peace. The Soviet Government could show its will for peace, not merely in words but by deeds, by joining without reservation in carrying out the programs set forth in three United Nations resolutions which point the way to peace. These are the three key resolutions passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1949 and 1950 which set forth the kind of conduct and action necessary to world peace. They are entitled “Essentials of Peace,” “Peace Through Deeds,” and “United for Peace.” Each was approved by the great majority of the nations of the world, but opposed by the Soviet Union and its satellites. I suggest that everyone should re-read and study these resolutions, and by “everyone I mean also the peoples of the USSR. Will their government give them the same opportunity that peoples of the free world have had to read and study these important resolutions? That remains to be seen.

The door is wide open to the Soviet Union to participate with the free world in making these resolutions effective.

1. Secretary of State Acheson began his press and radio news conference of August 8 by reading the statement printed here. There followed a number of questions from the correspondents regarding the significance of Shvernik’s communication of August 6 and the attached Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. A final question and answer on this topic summarized the content of the other questions and answers:

   “A correspondent inquired if it would be correct to say that the Secretary did not think that this publication meant a genuine change in Soviet foreign policy in the direction of encouraging or aiding and abetting peace. Mr. Acheson replied that that would be quite correct. He commented that he did not expect a change in that way and he never had, and he thought everything that he had said over the last three years had been that he did not believe Soviet policy changed in that way. He declared that the strategy remained the same. He stated that the tactics were different from time to time, but the purposes did not change.” (Memorandum by McDermott (S/M) of the Press and Radio News Conference, August 8, News Division files)

2. According to OIR Report CS 5.36, September 10, “World-Wide Reaction to the Friendship Resolutions Exchanged between the US and the USSR, July and August 1951”, prepared in the Office of Intelligence Research, Department of State, the McMahon–Ribicoff Resolution (Document 786) and President Truman’s communication of July 7 to Shvernik (Document 788) were not publicized in the USSR until Shvernik’s communication of August 6 to Truman (Document 798) was sent, when the exchanges were broadcast simultaneously by the Soviet Home Service Radio on August 7 and published by all Moscow newspapers on August 8. The friendship resolution of the U.S. Congress and the accompanying message of President Truman “gave rise to only meager though favorable comment in the non-Communist Western European press, as contrasted to the Soviet message of President Shvernik and the Supreme Soviet in reply. The latter was given wide play in most Western European non-Communist papers which almost universally regarded it with suspicion while the Communist press lauded it as a genuine expression of the Soviet desire for peace.” (611.61/9–1051)