Memorandum from Acting Secretary of State Joseph Grew to President Harry S. Truman

TOP SECRET DESLASSIFIED 8.0. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or (E) DEPARTMENT OF STATE Date of State letter, Aug. 10, 1972 WASHINGTON for Date 5-21-75 May 5, 1945 TREMAR ARCHIVES "NATIONAL RECORDS AND MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT SERVICE" Subject: Major Political Problems in Connec- tion with Austria and Czechoslovakia This Government is now faced with major political problems in connection with Austria and Czechoslovakia on which we had every reason and right to expect real Soviet cooperation with us. Instead, we have so far had unilateral acts on the part of the Soviet Union, i.e., a recognition of an Austrian Government without consultation with us, refusal to agree to an airfield in the United States zone in Vienna, and a refusal to per- mit our Embassy to go to the seat of the Czechoslovak Government. It therefore seems that some hard bargaining is going to become necessary before these problems are settled in a. manner satisfactory to us. The present military situation and its apparent possibilities offer some good material for such bargaining, provided imme- diate action is taken. It is therefore suggested that the Joint Chiefs of Staff be asked to consider urgently the following: If the American Armies pushed on to the Moldau River which runs through Prague, this would give us a strong bargaining position with the Russians. This river is a continuation of the Elbe where we have stopped farther north. Furthermore, the United States Third Army has now gone down the Danube through a good part of Upper Austria, which will presumably be in our zone of occupation in Austria. The Russians would, however,