George F. Kennan : an American life

50 “Trip to Novosibirsk and Stalinsk, June, 1945,” GFK Papers, 231:13. See also GFK, Memoirs, I, 271–75; GFK, Sketches from a Life, pp. 91–110. GFK’s postcard to JKH, dated June 18, 1945, is in the JEK Papers.

TEN ? A VERY LONG TELEGRAM: 1945–1946

1 GFK to JKH, June 6, 1945, GFK Papers, 23:10. The Finnish legation rental agreement is summarized in GFK to State Department, April 26, 1945, Department of State, Record Group 84, Moscow Harriman Telegrams Box 3, #74 Housing. Kennan’s promotion is confirmed in Julius C. Holmes to GFK, June 1, 1945, DSR-DF 1945–49, Box 786, “123 Kennan” folder.

2 GFK interview, August 25, 1982, p. 9; Harriman interview, p. 1. See also GFK, Memoirs, I, 293.

3 Kennan’s name appeared in The New York Times only twelve times from the beginning of 1940 through the end of 1945, in each case in connection with stories on other subjects.

4 GFK, Memoirs, I, 256.

5 Ibid., pp. 212–13. Robert Meiklejohn’s diary for June 5, 1945, Harriman Papers, Box 11, contains a succinct summary of Kennan’s thinking at the time of the Hopkins visit.

6 Miscamble, From Roosevelt to Truman, pp. 125–71, provides a comprehensive account of Truman’s views and those of his key advisers during this period.

7 GFK to Byrnes, August 20, 1945, DSR-DF 1945–49, Box 786, “123 Kennan” folder; GFK to Matthews, August 21, 1945, GFK Papers, 140:5. For Kennan’s objections to the Potsdam agreements, see GFK, Memoirs, I, 258–66.

8 Roberts interview, pp. 13–14; GFK to JKH, January 25, 1945, GFK Papers, 23:10; GFK to Charles E. Bohlen, January 26, 1945, Bohlen Papers, Box 1, “Personal Correspondence,” National Archives.

9 ASK to GFK, July 29 and September 4, 1945, JEK Papers.

10 GFK Diary, “Journey to Leningrad and Helsinki, September, 1945,” in GFK, Sketches from a Life, pp. 113–16. See also GFK, Memoirs, I, 275–78, 281–83.

11 An American diplomat with long service in Moscow admitted to me in the mid-1980s that he dreamed regularly of Helsinki, especially Stockmann’s Department Store.

12 GFK to Harriman, July 25, 1945, Harriman Papers, Box 181.

13 GFK to State Department, July 11, 1945, Department of State, Record Group 84, Moscow Harriman Telegrams, Box 2, #35 Czechoslovakia; GFK to State Department, July 21, 1945, ibid., Box 5, #119 Poles; GFK to State Department, July 21, 1945, ibid., Box 5, #137 Press; GFK to Harriman, July 25, 1945, ibid., Box 6, #167 Russia; GFK to State Department, August 2, 1945, in FRUS: 1945, VIII, 624.

14 GFK to State Department, July 15, 1945, Department of State, Record Group 84, Moscow Harriman Telegrams, Box 6, #167 Russia; GFK to Harriman, July 26, 1945, Harriman Papers, Box 181.

15 GFK, Memoirs, I, 279; GFK notes, Stalin-Harriman conversation, August 8, 1945, Harriman Papers, Box 181.

16 GFK interview, September 7, 1983, p. 12; GFK to Harriman, September 30, 1945, in FRUS: 1945, V, 884n; GFK to Byrnes, September 30, 1945, ibid., pp. 885–86.

17 GFK, Memoirs, I, 275–78; Senator Claude Pepper notes on interview with Stalin, September 14, 1945, Harriman Papers, Box 182. Kennan’s report on the meeting with the congressmen, sent to the State Department on September 15, 1945, is in FRUS: 1945, V, 881– 84. For the origins of the “Russian loan” question, see Herring, Aid to Russia, pp. 144–78.

18 Transcript, Moscow embassy staff conference, October 10, 1945, Harriman Papers, Box 183; GFK to Byrnes, October 4, 1945, in FRUS: 1945, V, 888–91; Byrnes to GFK, October 8, 1945, ibid., p. 888n.

19 Wilgress to the Ministry of External Affairs, Ottawa, November 14, 1945, Pearson to Norman Robertson, December 6, 1945, both in Record Group 25, Volume 5696, External Affairs Records, National Archives of Canada.

20 Unsigned memorandum, October 25, 1945, DSR-DF 1945–49, Box 786, “123 Kennan” folder. See also Bohlen to Harriman, October 5, 1945, ibid.

21 Roberts interview, pp. 3, 6. See also Roberts, Dealing with Dictators, pp. 92– 93.

22 GFK to Harriman, October 12, 1945, Harriman Papers, Box 183; Transcript, Moscow embassy staff conference, October 10, 1945, ibid.

23 Messer, End of an Alliance, pp. 135–48, provides a good account of Byrnes’s thinking. For the failure to consult Bevin, see Bullock, Ernest Bevin, pp. 198–99.

24 GFK Diary, December 10, 1945.

25 Ibid., December 14, 1945.

26 Ibid., December 19, 1945. Underlining in the original.

27 GFK Diary, December 17, 1945.

28 GFK draft, “The United States and Russia,” winter 1946, in GFK, Memoirs, I, 560–65.

29 Wilgress to Norman Robertson, January 15, 1946, Record Group 25, Volume 5696, Ministry of External Affairs Records, National Archives of Canada. Emphasis added.