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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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    "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",
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 18,
            "logicalDate": "1948-08-18",
            "month": 8,
            "year": 1948
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    "ocrText": "C O P Y\nnor SECRET\nPPS-38\nAugust 18, 1948\nU. S. OBJECTIVES WITH RESPECT TO RUSSIA\nI. Introduction.\nIt is plain that Russia, both as a force in its own right\nand as a center for the world communist movement, has become for\nthe time being the outstanding problem of U. S. foreign policy,\nand that there is deep dissatisfaction and concern in this coun-\ntry over the aims and methods of the Soviet leaders. The poli-\ncies of this Government are therefore determined in considerable\nmeasure by our desire to modify Soviet policies and to alter the\ninternational situation to which they have already led.\nHowever, there has yet been no clear formulation of basic\nU. S. objectives with respect to Russia. And it is particularly\nimportant, in view of the preoccupation of this Government with\nRussian affairs, that such objectives be formulated and accepted\nfor working purposes by all branches of our Government dealing\nwith the problems of Russia and communism. Otherwise, there is\na possibility of serious dissipation of the national effort on\na problem of outstanding international importance.\nII. Background Considerations.\nThere are two concepts of the relationship of national\nobjectives to the factors of war and peace.\nThe first holds that national objectives be constant and\nshould not be affected by changes in the country's situation\nas between war and peace; that they should be pursued constantly\nNSC 20/1\n- 1 -\nTOP SECRET"
}