Telegram from John Winant to Secretary of State James Byrnes

DEPARTMENT DECLASSIFIED INCOMING DIVISION OF OF E.O. 11852, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or (Ii) CENTRAL SERVICES STATE State letter, Aug. 10. TELEGRAM TELEGRAPH SECTION Dept. of NIS-AL NARS Date 5:26 EDW-924 London This telegram must be closely paraphrased be- Dated July 4, 1945 file fore being communicated to anyone. learnet SECRET) 1 Rec'd 3:50 p.m. of State office Secretary US Washington URGENT que SIR. 6729, July 4, 5 p.m. x349 TRUMAN ANNVU "NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND TOP SECRET x20 RECORDS LIBRARY U.S. - SERVICE WERT 25-A A FOR SECRETARY BYRNES FROM JUSTICE JACKSON. Your cable 5383, July 3. Negotiations of agreement trial principal war criminals progressing slowly due dif- x325-B ficulty Russian understanding our system of law and our difficulty comprehending theirs. British and French in substantial agreement with us. Russians, however, present complete counterproposal of dozen typed pages. On its face their proposal rejects substance of ours and sub- stitutes many trials by Russian procedures largely in Russian controlled territory and after surrender of our prisoners to tribunals instead one main trial at Neuremberg as suggested by Clay. Some difficulties have disappeared on negotiation after Russians understand our proposal. Today we reached stage of referring all to subcommittee for drafting. Deep difference in legal philosophy and attitude, however, is difficult to reconcile and even after words X325 <20 are agreed