The Baltic peoples, in the face of every imposition, retain their will to be free and maintain their steadfast opposition to Soviet despotism. Terrorism has been prolonged now for thirteen years. Many of their courageous and noble representatives have been executed, deported, or driven into exile. But their martyrdom keeps patriotism alive.

The United States, for its part, maintains the diplomatic recognition which it extended in 1922 to the three Baltic nations. We continue to deal with those diplomatic and consular representatives of the Baltic countries who served the last independent governments of these states.

Some may say that it is unrealistic and impractical not to recognize the enforced "incorporation" of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into the Soviet Union. We believe, however, that a despotism of the present Soviet type cannot indefinitely perpetuate its rule over hundreds of millions of people who love God, who love their country, and who have a sense of personal dignity.

The Soviet system, which seeks to expunge the distinctive characteristics of nation, creed, and individuality must itself change or be doomed ultimately to collapse. The time of collapse depends largely on whether the peoples who remain free produce spiritual, intellectual, and material richness and a faith which can penetrate any iron curtain. The captive peoples should know that they are not forgotten, that we are not reconciled to their fate, and, above all, that we are not prepared to seek illusory safety for ourselves by a bargain with their masters which would confirm their captivity.

These are our purposes. We have not forgotten the Atlantic Charter and its proclamation of "the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live." We still share the wish expressed in that Charter, "to see sovereign rights and selfgovernment restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them."

This is an hour when it is particularly important that our Nation's dedication to these principles should be made manifest. We approach a possible meeting with the representatives of the Soviet Union. I can assure you that we welcome opportunities to settle specific disputes between us; to end the race in armament, particularly atomic armament; and to reduce the risks of war.

But let me also assure you of this. We do not look on the conference table as a place where we surrender our principles, but rather as a place for making our principles prevail. That is our resolve, a resolve which I am confident is backed by the Congress and by the American people.

1

Anglo-American Declaration of Aug. 14, 1941; A Decade of American Foreign Policy, pp. 1-2.

1

14. REMARKS BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE LATVIAN CHARGÉ D'AFFAIRES AT WASHINGTON, MAY 24, 1954 2

I have received from your hands the letters of April 21, 1954, in which Mr. Charles Zarine, Minister of Latvia in London and bearer of the special emergency power of the last independent Government of the Republic of Latvia, presents you to me as Chargé d'Affaires of Latvia in the United States. You come in succession to the late Mr. Jules Feldmans whose distinguished and devoted services in representing his country to the United States were cut short by his untimely death last year.

In accepting you as Chief of the Latvian Mission in Washington in the capacity of Chargé d'Affaires, this Government reaffirms its wholehearted support for the Republic of Latvia and for the realization of the principle, expressed in the Atlantic Charter, that sovereign rights and self-government shall be restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.

I am confident that in carrying on the work to which your predecessors gave themselves unsparingly in defense of the cause of a free Latvia, you will enjoy, as they did, the dedicated support of Latvians everywhere. I am happy to welcome you to this country and to wish you every success in undertaking your duties here. You may be assured that my associates in the Department and I will always be ready to help you in every way we can.

I would ask you to thank Minister Zarine for his expression of good wishes, which are warmly reciprocated, on behalf of the Latvian nation and himself for the welfare and prosperity of the United States.

15. STATEMENT BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE,
FEBRUARY 15, 1955 3

The peoples of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia will commemorate this year the 37th anniversary of the declaration of their national independence. On this occasion I would like to express to them the deepest sympathy and warmest friendship of the American people. Despite the efforts of Soviet rulers to hide the nature of their administration in the Baltic States, the plight of the Baltic peoples is much in our thoughts.

There are many signs that the Baltic peoples have successfully resisted the devices of Soviet terror and propaganda intended to destroy their patriotic and religious allegiances. By the non-violent but stubbornly insistent expression of their human aspirations, the captive peoples are showing their rulers the hopelessness of continued disregard of basic human rights.

1 Dr. Arnold Spekke.

2 Department of State Bulletin, June 7, 1954, p. 882. For the text of Dr. Spekke's remarks, see ibid.

Through our contributions to the material and spiritual strength of the free world, we seek to create conditions under which the right of the Baltic peoples to resume their place in the community of free nations will be universally respected. We are convinced that a world community in which the Baltic peoples are free to choose their own form of government and their own political and economic institutions is likely to be one which will assure peace, with justice, for all nations, large and small.

D. BULGARIA

16. SEVERANCE OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS: Note From the American Legation at Sofia to the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, February 20, 1950 1

1

The Legation of the United States of America presents its compliments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of Bulgaria and has the honor to refer to the Legation's note of January 20, 1950, in reply to the note delivered by the Bulgarian Legation in Washington to the Department of State on January 19, 1950,3 requesting the recall from Bulgaria of the American Minister, Mr. Donald R. Heath, as persona non grata.

As indicated in the statements of the Under Secretary of State James E. Webb to the Bulgarian Chargé d'Affaires ad interim in Washington on December 12, 1949, the United States Government took a most serious view of the Bulgarian Government's conduct toward Minister Heath in connection with the trial of Traicho Kostov and others, in particular the charges against Mr. Heath, the falsity of which the Bulgarian Government itself was in a position to ascertain. The Under Secretary made it quite clear that these accusations, coming as they did on top of a long series of intolerable restrictions. and indignities to which the American Legation in Bulgaria had been subjected, inevitably affected relations between the two countries. and compelled the United States Government to warn the Bulgarian Government that it could not ignore such deliberate and unwarranted actions which were in complete disregard of normal practice in the conduct of international relations.

1

The Bulgarian Government, however, persisted in its course of

1 Department of State Bulletin, Mar. 6, 1950, pp. 356, 381. See also statement by the Department of State, Feb. 21, 1950 (ibid., pp. 353-355) and address by Donald R. Heath, Mar. 11, 1950 (ibid., Mar. 20, 1950, pp. 442-443). On Mar. 22, 1950, the Department of State announced that American interests in Bulgaria would be represented by Switzerland and that Bulgarian interests in the United States would be represented by Poland (ibid., Apr. 3, 1950, p. 524). 2 Ibid., Jan. 30, 1950, p. 159.

conduct. On January 19, 1950, it requested the immediate recall of Minister Heath from Bulgaria on the grounds that, by alleged "contacts" with Kostov and others, he had "allowed himself to take action not in line with his diplomatic functions" and thus had "shown abrupt interference in the interior affairs of the People's Republic of Bulgaria concerning its sovereignty as well as its national security." This action on the part of the Bulgarian Government, in putting forward wholly unfounded charges against the principal diplomatic representative of the United States as the basis of a demand for his recall, could be taken by the United States Government only as confirmation of the mounting evidence that the Bulgarian Government was unwilling, in its relations with the United States, to observe accepted standards of international comity.

The United States Government, in its note of January 20, 1950, stated that unless the Bulgarian Government withdrew its note of January 19 and demonstrated its willingness to observe established. international standards of conduct, the United States Government must conclude that the Bulgarian Government did not desire to maintain normal relations. Over a period of 4 weeks the Bulgarian Government did not have the courtesy to reply. On February 16, 1950, it was advised by the Department of State that the long delay had created a situation which could not continue indefinitely and was requested to reply immediately. No reply has been received. The conclusion is inescapable that the Bulgarian Government is unwilling to modify the position it has taken; that it is unwilling to treat American official representatives in Bulgaria in accordance with the standards of established international practice; and, consequently, that it is unwilling to maintain normal diplomatic relations with the United States.

2

Diplomatic relations between the United States and the postwar Government of Bulgaria, since their establishment in September 1947, have not been on a basis which could be called friendly or cordial. Cordiality was scarcely to be expected when Bulgarian officials and the controlled press were constantly denouncing and insulting the United States, and when the Bulgarian Government was violating its peace treaty obligations, ignoring resolutions of the United Nations, and supporting armed action against Greece. It was the hope of the United States Government, however, that relations, if not cordial, at least might be correct. But the treatment accorded to the American Legation in Sofia, including crippling restrictions on the entry and movement of American officials assigned to the Legation and an unprincipled campaign of persecution against the Legation's Bulgarian employees, left no doubt that the Bulgarian Government did not accept even the minimum standards of international practice. Despite all these difficulties the United States Government wished to maintain diplomatic contact with Bulgaria because of the sincere desire of the American people to work toward better understanding

1 See statement of Oct. 1, 1947, by Acting Secretary Lovett; A Decade of American Foreign Policy, pp. 486-487.

2 Treaty of Feb. 10, 1947; TIAS 1650 (61 Stat., pt. 2, p. 1915).

with the Bulgarian people, with whom ties of friendship have linked them in the past.

The Government of the United States will continue to maintain its feeling of friendship for the people of Bulgaria and to manifest in every appropriate way its deep interest in their welfare. The Government of the United States, however, is reluctantly compelled to conclude that it is no longer possible, in view of the present attitude of the Bulgarian Government, for the American Minister and his staff to remain in Bulgaria. They have received instructions to leave Bulgaria as soon as possible. At the same time, the Government of the United States requests the recall of the Bulgarian diplomatic mission from the United States.

17. RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN BULGARIA: Statement by the Department of State, October 20, 19521

The Bulgarian Government has just staged (Sept. 29-Oct. 3) another of its elaborate "trials" of religious leaders, designed, in this instance, to destroy the last remnants of the Catholic Church in Bulgaria. As in the infamous trials of Bulgarian Protestant leaders in the spring of 1949, the 40 Catholic leaders accused in this latest "trial" were charged with various vaguely defined anti-State activities, including, in the course of the proceedings, allegations that certain of the defendants had engaged in espionage as employees of "the Americans" and had for this purpose been in touch with a U.S. Government official on duty with the former American Legation in Sofia.

These charges are groundless and absurd. The same crude attempt to accuse the U.S. Government and its official representatives in Bulgaria of being involved in clandestine efforts to overthrow the Bulgarian Government has recurred in each of the many "trials” in which the Soviet satellite dictatorship in Bulgaria has sought to eradicate every form of opposition to its regime.

Cynical disregard for the truth characterized the whole "trial.” At the end, the court dutifully meted out the sentences-four defendants, including one bishop to be shot, all but five of the rest sentenced for periods ranging from 10 to 20 years.

In a speech just prior to the trial, Bulgarian Minister of Interior Georgi Tsankov revealed with crude brutality the atmosphere in which the trial was to be staged. "Let all [who oppose the Communist regime] know," he said, "that the People's Rule, through the organs of the Ministry of Interior, is able to put everyone where he belongs, and will deal mercilessly with all who try to hinder us. Neither God nor their imperialist masters can help them."

In accordance with this avowed policy, under the flimsiest pretense of legality, a last vestige of free religion in Bulgaria has now been stamped out. The Government of Bulgaria, which already stands. accused before the tribunal of world opinion of the most blatant viola

1

Department of State Bulletin, Nov. 10, 1952, pp. 728-729.