Telegram from President Harry S. Truman to Marshall Joseph Stalin

DECLASSIFIED by authority of NLT-306 kept gottator. 1945 $. 20 May 1945 Initials He Datee 7773 us TOP SECRET SOVERN MENT PRIORITY 1945 MAY 20 21 00 7328 From: Opnav To : Alusna, Moscow 202038Z, NCR Part one of four NUMBER 269. TOP SECRET AND PERSONAL FROM THE PRESIDENT FOR MARSHAL STALIN. Through the Embassy in Moscow I have been keeping you informed of the American position on the interim administration of the Venezia Giulia. In partic- ular your Government was given copies of the recent American and British notes to Marshal Tito which proposed, in accordance with the previous understanding reached in February between Field Marshal Alexander and Marshal Tito, that the Supreme Allied Commander should exercise control in an area including Trieste, Monfalcone, Gorizia and Pola in order not to prejudice any final disposition through occupation Part II by either claimant. We have now had a reply from Marshal Tito which is entirely K3PXS unsatisfactory in that he states that his government is not prepared "to renounce the right of the Yugoslav Army holding the territory up to the Isonzo River". As regards the administration of the area he offers a solution which cannot be recon- ciled with the principles we haveenunciated. Meanwhile the proximity of Alexander's and Tito's troops in undefined areas of occupation and the dual nature of control thus created are fraught with danger. You will have seen from Ambassador Harriman's communication to Mr. Molotov last March; from our recent public statement, and from the communication to Marshal Tito that we cannot consider this simply in the light of an Italian-Yugoslav boundary dispute but must regard it as a question of prin- ciple involving the pacific settlement of territorial disputes and the foundation JYIIE Part III of a lasting peace in Europe. We will not now or in the future take or permit any action in respect to this territory which does not fully take into account legitimate Yugoslav claims and the contributions which Yugoslav forces made to the victory - - - QH R sent