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{
    "localId": "213875861",
    "label": "Memorandum from Sidney Souers to President Harry S. Truman, with Attached National Security Council Report 20/1, A Report to the National Security Council by the Department of State on United States Objectives with Respect to Russia",
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    "id": "213875861",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Memorandum from Sidney Souers to President Harry S. Truman, with Attached National Security Council Report 20/1, A Report to the National Security Council by the Department of State on United States Objectives with Respect to Russia",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/213875861",
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 18,
            "logicalDate": "1948-08-18",
            "month": 8,
            "year": 1948
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{
    "seq": 17,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602191/750596/750596-04-017.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "TOP SECRET\nIt would therefore raise an issue directly involving the dignity\nand the vital interests of the Soviet State as such. It is idle\nto imagine that this could be brought about by means short of war.\nIf, therefore, we are to consider that the basic objective out-\nlined above is one which would be valid for peace as well as for\nwar, then we must logically state that under conditions of peace\nour objective would be merely to induce Moscow to permit the re-\nturn to the respective Baltic countries of all of their nationals\nwho have been forcibly removed therefrom and the establishment in\nthose countries of autonomous regimes generally consistent with\nthe cultural needs and national aspirations of the peoples in\nquestion. In the event of war, we might, if necessary, wish to\ngo further. But the answer to this question would depend on the\nnature of the Russian regime which would be dominant in that area\nin the wake of another war; and we need not attempt to decide it\nin advance.\nIn saying, consequently, that we should reduce the power and\ninfluence of the Kremlin to limits in which they will no longer\nconstitute a threat to the peace and stability of international\nsociety, we are entitled to consider that this is an objective\nwhich can be logically pursued not only in the event of a war but\nalso in time of peace and by peaceful means, and that in the lat-\nter case it need not necessarily raise issues of prestige for the\nSoviet Government which would automatically make war inevitable.\nNSC 20/1\n- 9 --\nTOP SECRET"
}