Memorandum from Lieutenant General Hoyt Vandenberg to President Harry S. Truman

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE GROUP NEW WAR DEPARTMENT BUILDING 21st and VIRGINIA AVENUE, N. W. WASHINGTON, D. C. 26 February 1947 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT The British Government has in recent months displayed a nominally independent attitude in foreign relations in contrast to its previous close collaboration with the US on practically all international issues. Evidences of this independent approach include: a. A reluctance to join or parallel the US in making formal representations to the USSR or Soviet- dominated governments concerning developments in Eastern Europe. b. Occasional lack of British support in the UN for US proposals on such issues as control of atomic energy and trusteeship of Pacific islands. C. Friendly British gestures toward the USSR, such as Field Marshal Montgomery's Moscow mission and the British invitation for a visit to England by a Soviet parliamentary delegation. The immediate causes of this independent attitude of the British Government are the need to regain public confidence in the face of domestic difficulties, and the desire to quiet left-wing criticism. Criticism by leftist members of Parliament and the British Trades Union Congress, which is the mainstay of the Labor Party, that the Government is not seeking an understanding with the USSR and is blindly pro-US, has been a source of embarrassment and concern to Foreign Minister Bevin. This criticism has been especially effective when combined with growing popular resentment toward the austerity standard of living and decreasing British international prestige. The internal crisis caused by the recent cold wave intensified public dissatisfaction with the progress of the Government's economic program. Although this program still has overwhelming support, there is a growing feeling that it is not being effectively executed. The Government is therefore urgent- ly impelled for domestic reasons to regain its prestige by a show DECLASSIFIED E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 CIA BOD 5100.00, 1981 PR NLT 79.24 By NLT- HC NARS, Date 4-15-11 SECRET