DAILY SUMMARY - 1946/05/16

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Daily Summary Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02578583
• Document Creation Date: September 11, 2018

Approved for Release: 2018/09)05 CO2578583
APPROVED FOR RELEASE - Historical Programs Staff 30 August 2018
Approved for Release: 2018/09/05 CO2578583
Approved for Release: 2018/09/05 CO2578583
APPROVED FOR RELEASE - Historical Programs Staff 30 August 2018
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.16 MAY 1946
1. FRANCE: Resumes of recent Communist. Politburo meetings--US
Military Attache Brussels has transmitted resumes of two recent
French Communist Party Politburo meetings as given him by a com-
pletely reliable source.
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2.. AUSTRIA: will not Soviet air attacks at resent--
The State Department has informed US Political Advisor Erhardt that it
does not contemplate any action on Soviet attacks against US aircraft unless
(a) the attacks recur, and (b) General Clark agrees that a diplomatic pro-
test should be made (see Daily Summary of 7 May, item 7). If the attacks
recur, recommendations will be made to the War Department that "appro-
priate measures" be taken to insure the safety of US flights.
3, CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Election forecast--Ambassador Steinhardt offers the
following predictions as to the 26 May elections: (a) the Moderates will
control the Constituent Assembly with 171 votes to 129 for the Radicals;
(b) the new government will continue as a "National Front" representing
the parties now comprising the Government; and (c) the Moderates prob-
ably will make concessions to the Radicals in order to wrest control of
the Ministries of Interior, Information and Education from the Commu-
nists, or at least to replace the present incumbents with Communists
"more acceptable to the other parties."
Document No.
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4. GREECE: Plebiscite to be test of "Nationalism versus Communism"�
Charge Rankin reports that (a) in the minds of most voters the real
Issue in the plebiscite on King George's return is "Nationalism versus
Communism," and (b) Rightist propaganda now asserts that "a repub-
lic is the antechamber to Communist dictatorship." Rankin believes
that an "honest plebiscite" might well result in a Royalist majority
exceeding 60 percent.
6. USSR: Embassy personnel incidents�Embassy Moscow reports that
the Soviets have requested that Vice Consul Wallace leave the USSR.
(Wallace was recently found guilty in absentia of violating the Soviet
criminal code during the trial of two Soviet citizens accused of stop-
ping Wallace's car and attacking him.) The Embassy plans (a) to
request an exit visa for Wallace in order to "reduce causes of irrita-
tion," and (b) do everything possible to get Ruess out of the country "as
quietly as possible," as legal arguments are not expected to change the
Soviet attitude.
6. POLAND: Government rotests sus ension of US credit--Acting Foreign
Minister Mo e ews as seclared in a self-righteous" manner to
Charge Keith that he cannot understand the suspension of the US credit
to Poland. Modzelewski (a) claimed that the US action had been taken
before the Polish Government had time to fulfill the conditions attached
to the loan, and (b) requested a prompt explanation of the State Depart-
Ment's present attitude, in view of the fact that the US-Polish exchange of
notes had now appeared in the Polish press. Keith replied that Poland
still has not fulfilled the commitments to permit uncensored reporting by
foreign correspondents and to furnish the US with copies of its commer-
cial treaties with other countries.
7. SPAIN: Embass dis rees with Giral s � okesmen's views--In commenting
on the recently reported views of Giral spokesmen see 'Daily Summary of
13 May, item 6), Embassy Madrid believes that US and British recognition
of the Giral "government-in-exile" would not influence Spanish generals
to depose Franco.
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8. IRAN: Qavam favors concessions to Azerbaijan�Qavam has (a)
strongly intimated to Adbassador Allen that he holds the Shah respon-
sible for the breakdown of negotiations with the Azerbaijanis and (b)
asked Allen to impress upon the Shah the need for granting "several"
concessions in order to 'save the unity of Iran and the Crown," as
well as to minimize the chances of war with the USSR. Meanwhile
Schwarzkopf reports that the Iranian Army, "on direct orders of the
Prime Minister, is moving northward both east and west of Azerbaijan.
Iranian report on evacuation to be delayed�Allen further
'reports that (a) the Iranian officials investigating the evacuation of
Soviet troops will riot leave Tehran until 17 May and (b) Qavam concedes
that a "definitive report" by 20 May is impossible. Qavam has, however,
promised to send to Ala. by 20 May a "factual report of the exact status
of the matter." The Soviet Ambassador to Iran, when asked about the
evacuation, replied that the USSR had "fulfilled entirely its agreement;"
Allen comments that, while this answer is "not correct," he believes
that all uniformed troops now have left.
British views�According to Ambassador Harriman, the British
Foreign Office, although still willing to give Qavam the benefit of the
doubt, is not convinced that he "may not turn out in the end to be an
extremely clever Soviet stooge."
9. SAUDI ARABIA: Anti-US attitude�Minister Eddy reports that King Ibn
Saud appears to be following the policy at present of avoiding the US
Legation and all US commercial firms except the Arabian-American Oil
Company "which he feels must grant his requests." (The King has re-
quested ARAMCO to undertake a wide variety of economic activities out-
side the oil industry and even to reopen Export-Import Bank Loan nego-
tiations in Washington.)
FAR EAST
10. SIAM: Er.,94ch report on border incident�French High Commissioner
Admiral D'Argenlieu reports that the incident of '7 May at Nakorn Phanom
(see Daily Summary of 8 May, item 7) originated in an attack on a village
In Laos by a band of Annamites and Siamese who later returned to the
Siamese side of the Mekong river. He has instructed French forces in
Laos to exercise moderation. The French Government considers the
affair as a minor frontier incident requiring only local settlement.
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Approved for Release: 2018/09/05 CO2578583
Approved for Release: 2018/09/05 CO2578583
APPROVED FOR RELEASE - Historical Programs Staff 30 August 2018
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