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    "localId": "205713177",
    "label": "Memorandum from Joseph Grew to President Harry S. Truman with Attached Memorandum, The Situation in Albania",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Memorandum from Joseph Grew to President Harry S. Truman with Attached Memorandum, The Situation in Albania",
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            "logicalDate": "1945-05-04",
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    "ocrText": "THE SITUATION IN ALBANIA\nThe Department is sending into Albania a Mission to report on\nthe situation with particular reference to the question of recognition\nof the present Albanian regime. Mr. Jacobs, former Counselor of\nLegation at Cairo, is at the head of the Mission and is supported by\ntwo non-career vice consuls and in addition a Mr. Fultz, who speaks\nthe language fluently. It appears that Mr. Hoxha, who is at the head\nof the regime, is young, vigorous, and inclined to be autocratic and\nmight turn into a first class dictator. On the other hand the country\nneeds a personal form of government as it is not ready for a democratic\nform of government as we know it. Hoxha is not a Communist but there\nare several members of his Government who are Communists and there is\na tendency already in evidence that Yugoslav Communism is having an\ninfluence on the Albanian situation.\nAlbanians have realized in the past that they owe their existence\nas a nation to Woodrow Wilson and to the attitude of the United States\nafter the first World War. Americans, therefore, have always been\nextremely popular because of this fact and because we have no designs\non the country.\nWhen the Italians collapsed in Albania, the Germans came into\ncontrol and went about it exceedingly cleverly. Knowing the attitude\nof the Albanians towards the United States they used this situation to\ntheir own advantage. They actually named one of the principal streets\nin the city of Tirana after Woodrow Wilson and achieved popularity\nthroughout the country through their apparent sympathy towards American\nideals and in this way they succeeded in getting a strong foothold in\nthe country.\nWe are not certain whether the Jacobs' Mission has already arrived\nin Albania. The last word from him was from Caserta and it is probable,\ntherefore, that they are already on their way to, if not already in,\nAlbania.\nTwo telegrams from Kirk are of interest in connection with Albania.\nOne reports that Brigadier Hodgson has stated that he is convinced the\npresent Albanian Government should not be recognized in its present\nform. The second is to the effect that the Yugoslav Cabinet decided\non April 28 to accord full diplomatic recognition to Albania, Bulgaria,\nand Poland.\nTRUMAN\nAND\nSA/WP+WPhillips:REh"
}