‘Possibly.’ Volodya glanced nervously at the police spies around the table. Woody did not understand that any connection with someone in America could bring down suspicion on a Soviet citizen. ‘You know, Woody, in this country it’s considered an insult to refuse to drink.’
Woody smiled pleasantly. ‘Not in America,’ he said.
Volodya picked up his own glass and looked around the table at the assorted secret policemen pretending to be civil servants and diplomats. ‘A toast!’ he said. ‘To friendship between the United States and the Soviet Union!’
The others raised their glasses high. Woody did the same. ‘Friendship!’ they all echoed.
Everyone drank except Woody, who put his glass down untasted.
Volodya began to suspect that he was not as naive as he seemed.
Woody leaned across the table. ‘Volodya, you need to understand that I don’t know any secrets. I’m too junior.’
‘So am I,’ said Volodya. It was far from the truth.
Woody said: ‘What I’m trying to explain is that you can just ask me questions. If I know the answers, I’ll tell you. I can do that, because anything I know can’t possibly be secret. So you don’t need to get me drunk or send prostitutes to my room. You can just ask me.’
It was some kind of trick, Volodya decided. No one could be so innocent. But he decided to humour Woody. Why not? ‘All right,’ he said. ‘I need to know what you’re after. Not you personally, of course. Your delegation, and Secretary Hull, and President Roosevelt. What do you want from this conference?’
‘We want you to back the Four-Power Pact.’
It was the standard answer, but Volodya decided to persist. ‘This is what we don’t understand.’ He was being candid now, perhaps more than he should have, but instinct was telling him to take the risk of opening up a little. ‘Who cares about a pact with China? We need to defeat the Nazis in Europe. We want you to help us do that.’
‘And we will.’
‘So you say. But you said you would invade Europe this summer.’
‘Well, we did invade Italy.’
‘It’s not enough.’
‘France next year. We’ve promised that.’
‘So why do you need the pact?’
‘Well.’ Woody paused, collecting his thoughts. ‘We have to show the American people how it’s in their interests to invade Europe.’
‘Why?’
‘Why what?’
‘Why do you need to explain this to the public? Roosevelt is President, isn’t he? He should just do it!’
‘Next year is election year. He wants to get re-elected.’
‘So?’
‘American people won’t vote for him if they think he’s involved them unnecessarily in the war in Europe. So he wants to put it to them as part of his overall plan for world peace. If we have the Four-Power Pact, showing that we’re serious about the United Nations organization, then American voters are more likely to accept that the invasion of France is a step on the road to a more peaceful world.’
‘This is amazing,’ Volodya said. ‘He’s the President, yet he has to make excuses all the time for what he does!’
‘Something like that,’ Woody said. ‘We call it democracy.’
Volodya had a sneaking suspicion that this incredible story might actually be the truth. ‘So the pact is necessary to persuade American voters to support the invasion of Europe.’
‘Exactly.’
‘Then why do we need China?’ Stalin was particularly scornful of the Allies’ insistence that China should be included in the pact.
‘China is a weak ally.’
‘So ignore China.’
‘If the Chinese are left out they will become discouraged, and may fight less enthusiastically against the Japanese.’
‘So?’
‘So we will have to bolster our forces in the Pacific theatre, and that will take away from our strength in Europe.’
That alarmed Volodya. The Soviet Union did not want Allied forces diverted from Europe to the Pacific. ‘So you are making a friendly gesture to China simply in order to conserve more forces for the invasion of Europe.’
‘Yes.’
