This chronology is based on the following publication: Borhi László: Az Egyesült Államok és a szovjet zóna, 1945-1990 [The United States and the Soviet Zone, 1945-1990], Budapest: História, 1994

1945

January 20. Hungary signs the Armistice Agreement with the Allied Powers. – The United States and Great Britain seek more influence in the operation of the Allied Control Commission in Hungary than that of Romania and Bulgaria. The US and Great Britain succeed in reducing Hungary’s reparation payment from USD 400 million to USD 300 million.

February 4-11. The Yalta Conference of the Allied powers. – Allied declaration on Liberated Europe. – The position of the Western Powers: The Polish government should be organized on a wider, more democratic basis and should include both domestic elements and members of the Polish government in exile.® June 23

February 5. The Soviet Union establishes diplomatic relations with the Polish Provisional government of Lublin. In response the US and the British governments reiterate that they continue to recognize the Polish exile government in London.

February 13. The London Polish government renounces the Yalta declaration on the Polish government. They announce that the declaration constitutes the fifth division of Poland and is contradictory to the principles of the Atlantic Charter.

February 28. The Radescu government in Romania resigns at Soviet pressure. On March 2 King Michael appoints Petru Groza to form the new government.

March 3. The US government announces that it continues to recognize the Baltic states and its attitude has not changed in their respect.

March 14. British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden declares in the House of Commons that, in his view, the Soviet Union implemented the change in the Romanian government to suppress pro-Hitler and pro-fascist elements.

April 15. Marshall Tito announces Yugoslavia’s claim on Trieste and Istria.® May 12. The former premier of the London Polish government, Stanislaw Mikolajczyk announces his support for the Allies’ decision on Poland at Yalta.

April 21. The Soviet Union and the Polish Provisional government sign a treaty of mutual assistance, cooperation and friendship.

May 9. Germany lays down its arms; the war in Europe ends.

May 12. US Acting Secretary of State Joseph. C. Grew announces that he opposes Marshall Tito’s claim on Trieste. – The US and Great Britain send memoranda to Tito in which they affirm that Trieste must remain under Allied control until a peace conference decides its future.® July 29-October 15, 1946.

May 16. Joseph C. Grew repeats his warning to Tito concerning a territorial settlement by use of force.

May 20. US troops leave Trieste.

May 23. Harry L. Hopkins, President Truman’s special envoy travels to Moscow to discuss matters of mutual interest between the US and the USSR with Marshal Stalin.

May 26. Foreign Secretary Eden sends a message to Commissar of Foreign Affairs Molotov to commemorate the third anniversary of the Soviet-British treaty. In this he expressed that peace in Europe can be secured only if both the Soviet Union and Great Britain adhere to the treaty. Eden points out that the treaty envisioned a situation in which the there would be “close and friendly cooperation” between contracting parties, “without striving for any territorial acquisitions for ourselves and refraining from interference with the internal affairs of other states”.

June 9. The State Department announces an agreement between the US, Great Britain and Yugoslavia on the provisional military administration of Venezia Giulia, including Trieste.

June 20. British-American-Yugoslav agreement on the partitioning of Venezia Giulia until the peace treaty makes a decision on its final fate.

June 23. An agreement is signed in Moscow on the constitution of the new Polish government, which is to include five London and domestic Poles as well asthe members of the Moscow-backed Warsaw (Lublin) regime.

July 5. The US and Great Britain make a simultaneous announcement of the recognition of the Warsaw government.

July 9. A Polish-Soviet commercial treaty is signed.

July 17-August 2. The Potsdam meeting of the Allied powers. The USSR receives German assets in eastern Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria as reparations.

July 19. A statement by Joseph C. Grew is made public, according to which the US will insist on participating in the observation of Polish elections on an equal basis with other allies.

August 18. The State Department informs Bulgaria that in its view Prime Minister Kimon Georgiev’s administration does not properly represent the Bulgarian people and it has not taken the necessary steps to make the elections to be held on August 16 open for all democratic elements. The State Department claims that Great Britain had a similar view of the situation.

August 20. According to British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin the governments of Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary are not representative of the majority of the people and it is his impression that one totalitarian regime will be replaced by another.

September 1. President Truman terminates all lend-lease shipments to the USSR and Great Britain.® October 17.

September 10-October 2. The London meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

September 29. The US announces recognition of the Hungarian government.

October 17. The US and the USSR sign an agreement worth USD 350-400 million in lend lease goods, the shipment of which to the USSR was terminated on September 1. The loan was extended for thirty years at an interest of 2.3/8%. The first installment is to be paid in nine years.

October 21. London says the US and Great Britain have protested against the trade and economic agreement concluded between Hungary and the Soviet Union in August, yet to be ratified. The agreement would tie down 50% of Hungary’s industry and transport. The Anglo-American representatives of the ACC were not consulted about the agreement, which the Hungarian government is reluctant to ratify. (According to the economic agreement the USSR gained 50% ownership in important sectors of Hungarian mining industry and transport. This enabled the Soviets to pursue a rapid policy of economic penetration in Hungary, which in turn facilitated political penetration The US position was to not support the domestic opponents of the treaty because the US would not be able to replace the USSR as Hungary’s chief trading partner or be able to offer the commodities essential to the Hungarian economy that the Soviets offered).

October 24. A trade agreement is signed between Czechoslovakia and France, according to which France is to ship goods worth 396 million Francs to Czechoslovakia and purchase 906 million Francs worth of commodities.

October 31. US Secretary of State James F. Byrnes, in a speech given in New York, warns that a world divided into spheres of influence is more dangerous than national isolationism, although he recognizes the USSR’s “special interests” in East-Central Europe. – The Soviet Union rebuffs the British protest against the trade treaties signed with the Bulgarian, Romanian and Hungarian governments.

November. A US fact-finding mission headed by Mark Ethridge visits Romania, Bulgaria and the USSR. According to its report, the Romanian and Bulgarian governments do not conform to democratic principles. - November 16 The US government informs Bulgaria that based on the Ethridge report – according to which the electoral candidates participate on a joint list on the November 18 election and are threatening with violence and retaliation – will not be regarded as free and unfettered.

November 9. Soviet-American agreement on troop withdrawal from Czechoslovakia. US diplomatic note to the Hungarian government, which asserts that it considers the 1925 US-Hungarian most favored nation treaty to be in force, superseding the Soviet-Hungarian trade agreement.

November 17. Great Britain extends diplomatic recognition to Hungary.

December 16-27. The Moscow meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers. – December 24. It is announced that with Chinese and French approval peace treaties will be signed with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland. – December 22. The great powers announce an agreement on the broadening of the Romanian and the Bulgarian governments and on their Anglo-American recognition.® January 7, January 13, 1946.

January 7. The Romanian government is broadened based on a three-power consensus. The two new members of the government represent the Liberal Party and the National Peasant Party.

January 8. President Truman announces at a press conference: He reserves the right to revoke even the conditional recognition of Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia in case they fail to guarantee the democratic transformation accepted in Yalta. Yugoslavia’s recognition is still tied to guarantees. – The US ambassador in Warsaw, Arthur Bliss Lane does not support Poland’s bid for a 500 million dollar loan, since in his view the nationalization of the industry violates the Polish-American commercial treaty of 1931.

January 13. Deputy Commissar of Foreign Affairs Andrei Vishinsky announces: attempts to broaden the Bulgarian government failed because the opposition demanded the transformation of the cabinet, the dissolution of the National Assembly and a new election.

January 14. The Romanian Minister of Justice, Lucretiu Patrascanu announces that foreign observers may not participate at the national election.

January 31. Secretary of State Byrnes instructs the US embassy in Warsaw to request the Polish government to ensure the freedom and security indispensable for a free election.

February 5. According to the Moscow agreement of the great powers, the United States extends recognition to Romania.

February 6. In a radio speech Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs Molotov declarest“dangerous talk on a third world war is being encouraged” in “the ruling classes of some other countries“ He assails British maintenance of “hundreds of thousands of German soldiers” in their zone of occupation, Allied support of “tens of thousands of troops of Polish Fascist General Anders” in Italy.

February 28. Secretary of State Byrnes declares that the United States wants Russian friendship but warns “it cannot allow aggression to be accomplished by coercion or pressure or by subterfuge such as political infiltration.”

March 5. Winston Churchill’s cold war speech in Fulton, Missouri: “An iron curtain” has “descended across the Continent”. – The March 11 response of Pravda calls Churchill a warmonger and declares that his recommendation amounts to the formation of an Anglo-American military alliance in order to dominate the world and “liquidation” of the three-power coalition and the United Nations. - March 13. Stalin’s interview in Pravda: Churchill’s speech is “incompatible” with the Anglo-Soviet treaty and says his charge that East European countries are all subjected to the “increasing control of Moscow” is “rudely and shamelessly” libelous; “if Churchill and his friends not only in England but also in the United States” succeed in organizing a new military expedition against Eastern Europe, “which is not very probable”, then “they will be beaten”.

March 7. According to American view the Soviets caused a damage of USD 2,5 million by assuming the operation of the oil field of Lispe in Hungary.

March 8. In response to a note by the United States in which it requested the broadening of the Bulgarian government by two members who are truly acceptable to the opposition, the Soviet Union announces that the US is violating the London agreement and the note was delivered without consultation with the governments involved. – In a speech Churchill calls for Anglo-American cooperation to defend common interests. – Byrnes affirms that the US does not want an alliance either with Britain or the USSR.

March 22. The US military mission in Hungary delivers a note in which it demands the removal of Soviet personnel from the US-owned oil fields and the return of the wells to US control.® 26 September 1948.

April 18. Secretary of State Byrnes affirms that the US invited the USSR to start negotiations on the USD 1 billion requested by the USSR.

April 24. The US Export-Import Bank extends a credit of USD 40 million for Poland to purchase US railroad equipment with the condition that free elections will be held. Poland also obtains a USD 50 million surplus property credit.® May 8.

April 25.-May 16. The Paris conference of the Council of Foreign Ministers. Participants: French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bidault, British Foreign Secretary Bevin, Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs Molotov and Secretary of State Byrnes. – May 2. Byrnes raises the issue of Soviet troop reduction in Central Europe and the Balkans and recommends to modification of the armistice conditions of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. Molotov disagrees. – May 4. Byrnes recommends a plebiscite in the disputed Yugoslav-Italian border region but Molotov wants to extend it to the whole Venezia-Giulia region and the Istrian peninsula. – May 6. Molotov declares that if Trieste is awarded to Yugoslavia, the Soviet position will change as to the question of Italian colonies and reparations and the ownership of the Dodecanese islands. Byrnes and Bevin turn down the plan. – May 7. Territorial issue: Romania gets northern Transylvania; Bulgaria may retain South Dobrudja; the Soviet Union keeps Bessarabia and northern Bukovina.® June 17-July 12.

May 8. The US suspends deliveries to Poland of goods provided in the framework of the USD 50 million property surplus credit.

May 17.-June 12. The second round of the Paris conference of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

May 27. In an interview to Pravda Commissar of Foreign Affairs Molotov claims that at the Paris conference “the Anglo-American” bloc launched an offensive against the USSR and “desire to impose its will on the Soviet Union”. Molotov deems that Byrnes’s proposal to put the whole peace conference to the UN General Assembly was an attempt “to utilize the methods of pressure, threat and intimidation”.

May 31. Washington and London publish the text of the note delivered to the Romanian government in protest against the procrastination of the election, their failure to broaden the government and censorship. – The US presents the Baruch Plan to the UN. According to the plan, an international organization would dispose of nuclear material. In the course of the multi-echelon plan the US would surrender the technology of the A bomb and the nuclear weapon itself to this organ, which would also supervise execution.

June 1. US protest to the Romanian government because on May 28 the Romanian secret police arrested three employees of Romanian citizenship in the building of the US military mission.

July 26. The United States publishes its diplomatic note of July 23 in which it accuses the USSR of depriving Hungary of its food supply and industrial equipment. According to the note, reparations and the obligation to supply the Red Army caused Hungary’s difficult situation. The note contains a recommendation for the United States, the USSR and Great Britain to work jointly in order to stop Hungary’s economic disintegration.® August 1.

July 29.-October 15. The Paris peace conference. Aim: to work out peace treaties with Germany’s former allies, Italy, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary and Romania. – The United States fails in its attempt to reduce Hungary’s reparations. The Trieste issue is left unresolved, the Danube is not opened for international trade; the conflict between East and West remain unresolved in almost all issues.

August 1. The Soviet Union rebuffs the US note of July 26. Moscow denies the American assertion that in 1945 it received 24% of Hungary’s GNP for reparations.

August 20. The United States and Great Britain accuse Poland of suppressing democratic activity and of violations in counting the votes returned on the election of June 30.

September 6. Secretary of State Byrnes declares that he does not regard Poland’s boundaries as final. – According to Soviet foreign minister Poland’s boundaries are final, this fact is awaiting final approval.

September 12. In a speech delivered in New York, Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace condemns US intervention in Eastern Europe and criticizes the tough political line against the Soviet Union: “The tougher we get the tougher the Russians will get.” According to Wallace, American policy cannot rely upon England alone, Americans must make peace with Russia. “The Russians have no more business in stirring up native communists to political activity in Western Europe, Latin America and the US than we have in interfering in the politics of Eastern Europe and Russia”. – President Truman announces his agreement with the speech since in his view it coincided with the line pursued by Byrnes. – September 14. Truman comes out with public support for Byrnes’s policy in Paris.

September 18. Secretary of Commerce Wallace’s letter to President Truman: the US should destroy its nuclear bombs and should publish the atomic secret; it should allow Russia to receive a warm water port; the US should recognize Russia’s right for a security system in the framework of which Russia would be surrounded by friendly nations. – September 20. Truman makes Wallace resign, because of “fundamental conflict” between Wallace’s and the Administration’s views on foreign policy. Among others, Harold L. Ickes, Roosevelt’s former Secretary of Interior protests against the resignation.

September 24. According to Stalin a real danger “of a new war” does not exist “at present”. The Russian leader declares that he believes “unconditionally” in the possibility of friendly and lasting collaboration” with Western democracy; “Communism in one country” is “fully possible,… especially in the Soviet Union”. Britain and the US could not encircle the USSR even if they wanted, which, however, “we cannot affirm”-- claims Stalin. – London and Washington welcome the part of the speech to do with peace.

September 26. Yugoslavia bans the activity of the United States Information Service (USIS) in the country.

October 3. Byrnes’s speech in Paris: he agrees with Stalin that “there is no immediate danger of war” and “hopes that this statement will put an end to the unwarranted charges that any nation or group of nations is seeking to encircle the Soviet Union.” The US and other nations have no wish to surround the Soviet Union, but policies leading to war must be avoided.

October 16. The State Department revokes the remaining USD 40 million part of the USD 50 million loan to Czechoslovakia and instructs the Export-Import Bank to suspend talks on another 50 million dollar loan. The reason: Czechoslovakia’s pro-Soviet policy. (Prague supported the Russian notion that the US extended loans for imperialistic purposes).® November 7.

October 28. Stalin’s interview: the USSR is still interested in receiving a US loan; in his view the US-Soviet tension has not grown; Poland’s boundaries are final. The presence of the US fleet in the Mediterranean is of no interest to the USSR.

November 7. Great Britain extends a 10 million dollar loan to Prague. – The United States terminates loans to Czechoslovakia.

November 27. The Council of Foreign Ministers practically comes to an agreement on Trieste. Molotov made the most concessions. – November 28. Byrnes accepts Molotov’s proposal for the four great powers to put forward a declaration on the freedom of navigation and free trade on the river Danube and insists on inserting this into the peace treaties.

January 7. The US makes public its note to the USSR and Great Britain in which the US requests these countries to demand that the Polish government hold free elections. The Soviet Union turns down the US request.

January 28. According to the State Department Poland violated the Potsdam and the Yalta Declarations since it employed coercion and intimidation against democratic elements during the election campaign; the US reserved the right for “full liberty of action” for the future in connection with Poland. – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg demands the establishment of responsibility for the Polish electoral abuses.

February 15. In protest against his government’s Polish policy, the US ambassador in Warsaw, Arthur Bliss Lane resigns. According to Lane US policy was not efficient enough to preclude communist seizure of power.

March 4. Secretary of State Marshall and his predecessor Byrnes urge the rapid ratification of the Italian, Romanian, Hungarian and Bulgarian peace treaties in the Senate in the hope that this may lead to quick withdrawal of Soviet troops.® June 5.

March 6. The United States publishes its diplomatic note of March 5 sent to London, Moscow and Budapest in which it accuses the Soviet High Command of creating a political crisis in Hungary with the arrest of Smallholder Party General Secretary Béla Kovács. They demand immediate investigation on the part of the ACC and the Hungarian government. According to the note, the intervention benefits the communists, who wish to create a minority dictatorship instead of the elected government.® March 11.

March 8. General Sviridov, Acting President of the ACC refutes the American allegations.

March 9.-April 24. The Moscow conference of the Council of Foreign Ministers. Major topics: the German and the Austrian peace treaties; the question of German and Austrian reparations.

March 11. The State Department publishes the Soviet response to the American note of March 6. According to General Sviridov, the accusation that the communists are striving for “a minority dictatorship” is “unfounded”. He deems the “American interference” in the Béla Kovács affair an “attempt to infringe on the legal rights of the Soviet occupation authorities”.® March 17.

March 12. President Truman announces a new foreign policy in his congressional address (containment speech) and asks for USD 400 million to assist Greece and Turkey. “[…] Totalitarian regimes imposed on free peoples by direct or indirect aggression, undermine the foundations of international peace and hence the security of the United States.” He mentions Poland, Romania and Bulgaria as examples where totalitarian regimes were forced on the people “against their will…in theviolation of the Yalta agreement”. Commentaries: The Republican Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “The independence of Greece and Turkey must be preserved […] The President’s hand must be upheld”. (Concerning Hungary the Senator declared that the situation there is equally serious, but since Hungary is not a traditional ally, but a former enemy, it cannot count on equal treatment with Greece). – The Soviet news agency, Tass: Truman’s message is “frankly directed against the Greek democratic elements”.

March 12. In protest against Kovács’s arrest, General Weems, the US representative in the ACC, presents a new note to Sviridov, accusing the Hungarian communists of wanting to seize power. Simultaneously a British note is presented as well.® June 2.

March 19. Svridov refutes the allegations contained in the two notes.

March 20. The US turns down a Yugoslav request for USD 350 million in food aid.

May 3. Discussion between Stalin and Harold Stassen. Stalin: cooperation between the US and the USSR is still possible, “Russia wants to cooperate.” He added: “If one side fails to cooperate, then the result will be conflict, war.”

June 2. In response to political events in Hungary (Prime Minister Ferenc Nagy’s forced resignation on May 31), the United States suspends the remaining part of the USD 30 million surplus credit until the situation is clarified.

June 4. In response to the failure of Hungary to grant transit rights for US commercial airlines, MASZOVLET (Hungarian-Soviet airlines) may no longer fly over the US zones of Austria and Germany.

June 5. Secretary of State Marshall’s speech at Harvard University. Marshall announces the European Reconstruction Program (Marshall Plan). The United States contributes USD 17 billion to Western European economic reconstruction and the economic integration of the western part of the continent is launched. – June 15. Pravda condemns the Marshall Plan. – June 18. British foreign secretary Bevin and French minister of foreign affairs Bidault invite Molotov to work out the European reconstruction plan based on US assistance.® June 17. Truman calls the Hungarian “communist putsch” outrageous and declares: the US has no intention to stand idly by the events; the State Department is investigating the affair. He supports a strongly worded note of protest to the Soviet High Command.® June 11. – The US Senate ratifies the Italian, Romanian, Hungarian and Bulgarian peace treaties.

June 9. The Soviet Acting chairman of the ACC, general Svridov, rebuffs the US-British demand for information on the background of the Hungarian events.

June 10. The State Department publishes the exchange of letters between acting Secretary of State Acheson and former Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Nagy to deny the accusation made by the Hungarian communists to wit that the US made a secret undertaking to support Nagy.

June 11. At the instruction of Secretary of State Marshall and President Truman, the State Department instructs General Weems to protest in a strongly worded note to Sviridov against the Soviet Union’s “flagrant” interference in Hungary. – The State Department launches a strong diplomatic offensive against Bulgaria because of the arrest of opposition peasant party politician Nikola Petkov and the banning of opposition papers.

June 13. The State Department publishes a warning to Romania that the US demands full and immediate compensation for the US property nationalized under the new law. The total value of US property in Romania is USD 35 million.

June 15. Sviridov turns down the US request that the three powers investigate the Hungarian political transition, as it would constitute crude intervention in Hungary’s domestic affairs.

June 19. Foreign Secretary Bevin warns the USSR in the House of Commons that the policy of appeasement is over. On Eastern Europe he declares: “We have lived through all these - in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Why blind our eyes to it?…I am against the one party state... It is developing over a very wide area of Eastern Europe, not by desire but by force…I cannot help feeling…that this kind of thing should be stopped.”

June 24. Poland’s ambassador in Washington indicates that his country wishes to participate in the Marshall Plan.

June 25. US protest to Romania against the “drastic deprivations of civil liberties to which the Romanian people are being subjected” and against “the arbitrary arrest...of hundreds of opposition party leaders and non-party persons .” Great Britain presents a similar protest.

June 27. The foreign ministers of Russia, England and France, Molotov, Bevin and Bidault begin talks about the Marshall Plan.

July 2. The USSR turns down the Marshall Plan. Bidault’s speech: “I should like to warn the Soviet delegation against any action which might result in dividing Europe into two groups.”

July 16. A four-year French-Polish economic treaty is signed in Paris in which French companies will construct Poland’s waterpower system.

July 26. The US Congress excludes Poland and Hungary from the Marshall Plan. Previously both had declined participation.® September 8.

July 30. The United States publishes its protest to the Soviet Union against the USSR having taken former Axis property from Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania before the signing of the peace treaty. – The previous day Britain protested against the same.

August 10. Czechoslovakia receives 100 fighter planes from Great Britain.

August 11. Great Britain protests against Hungarian violation of the trade articles of the peace treaty, since the four Soviet-Hungarian companies enjoy preferential treatment.

August 31. The US expresses its protest to Hungary for preparing the national election scheduled for August 31 in such a way that it should end with communist victory.

September 8. US representative Christian Herter announces in Warsaw that the US is interested in Poland’s rehabilitation in spite of the fact that aid was halted.

September 9. The US announces the conclusion of an economic agreement with Czechoslovakia in which it will deliver industrial equipment to the East European nation.

October 1. The US reestablishes full diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.

November 8. The Harriman report “The US has vital interest – humanitarian, economic strategic and political – in helping” Western Europe recover while resisting communism even at definite sacrifice.

November 9.-December 15. The London conference of the Council of Foreign Ministers. Topic: the German and the Austrian question. There is no agreement on any question.

November 19. The State Department publishes the United States’ protest against the Romanian accusation to wit that the US is trying to overthrow the Bucharest government.

January 10. The State Department decides to tie the East European export of radar equipment to licensing since from now on these are classified as arms.® March 26.

January 15. According to the announcement of the Department of Commerce all shipments to Europe need to be licensed. (The announcement was the beginning of economic embargo against the Soviet zone. The principal goal was to preclude the sale of raw materials and industrial products that would increase the USSR’s military potential. Moreover, the embargo also aimed to force the satellites to purchase high technology commodities from the USSR. It was believed that the Soviet Union would be unable to satisfy these needs, hence the satellites would be forced to turn to the West and purchase them in return for political concessions).

January 21. The State Department releases documents pertaining to Soviet-German relations between 1939 and 1941.

January 22. Bevin announces in the House of Commons that Great Britain’s priority is to consolidate the Western countries. The “Western Union” requires a British, French, Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourgian agreement to be joined later by Portugal and Italy. Churchill supports the plan.® March 12 1948.

February 3. Great Britain’s diplomatic note to Romania in which Bucharest is accused of breaking the peace treaty by forcefully liquidating the communists’ opposition. – February 4. The US sends a similarly worded note to Romania. – February 13. Romania refutes the allegations contained by the two notes.

February 6. The State Department protests against the trial of a former Bulgarian agrarian politician, Gichev.

February 26. The United States, Great Britain and France protest in a joint statement against the communist putsch in Czechoslovakia. It is pointed out that “by means of a crisis artificially and deliberately instigated, the use of certain methods already tested in other places had permitted the suspension of the free practice of parliamentary institutions and the establishment of a disguised dictatorship of a single party dictatorship under the cloak of a government of national union”. They deplore the development “the consequences of which can only be disastrous for the Czechoslovak people”. – French minister of foreign affairs Bidault: “This new event…runs counter to the efforts that have been made to liberate Europe from all tyranny.” – The January 13 speech by secretary of commerce Harriman is published according to which, “The aggressive forces in the world coming from the Soviet Union” are “a greater menace than Hitler was”. – Christian Science Monitor: “Europe will watch for America’s answer…will it be bold or equivocal?”

February 28. Senator Vandenberg’s speech: the Czech putsch and the Russian pressure on Finland made it vital to accomplish the European Reconstruction Program.

March 1. The Czechoslovak broadcasts of Voice of America are raised to three daily.

March 10. Following the death of Czech foreign minister Masaryk, Secretary of State Marshall pronounces the world situation “very, very serious”. He calls for “cool judgment” instead of passion in deciding US strategy in a “great crisis”.

March 12. Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg sign the Brussels pact. The pact includes the mutual defense treaties of the signatories. – According to Izvestia the Brussels pact guarantees unchallenged intervention in Western Europe for the United States. President Truman supports the pact.® 28 January 1949.

March 20. The US, France and Great Britain announce that Trieste must be returned to Italy.® October 8, 1953.

March 21. According to a Soviet accusation, the West acted behind the Soviet Union’s back concerning the proposals on Trieste.

March 22. According to Great Britain’s UN representative communism must be “dammed back” even at the risk of war. The diplomat expressed this view at the UN Security Council debate on the Czechoslovak putsch the investigation of which he urged.

March 25. Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, as well as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff request the introduction of universal military training at a hearing of the Senate Armed Forces Committee.

March 26. President Truman prohibits the sale of aircraft to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. This meant that all aircraft, including commercial and training ones were put on the positive list of the State Department (military aircraft had already been put on the positive list).® November 4 1949. – The spokesman of the Department of Commerce: the complete termination of trade with the USSR would be a significant diplomatic measure. Although the USSR delivered manganese and chrome for the US steel industry, no export licenses were given out without the necessary investigation.® June 14 1949.

May 4. The message of President Truman and secretary of state Marshall to Molotov: the US has no aggressive designs against the USSR, it is only supporting other democracies’ defense against Russian and domestic communist threat. They deem inexplicable Moscow’s lack of participation in the Marshall Plan. Moscow has it in its power to relieve many problems that complicate the international situation.

May 9. Molotov presents Moscow’s response to the May 4 message sent by Truman and Marshall to US ambassador Bedell Smith: the Soviet government agrees with the US proposal to start talks in order to clear up the differences of opinion between the two states. Then Molotov sounded accusations of US foreign policy.

May 11. Contrary to diplomatic customs the USSR publishes the exchange of notes between the US and the Soviet Union, and puts Washington in a difficult situation in front of its allies. Moscow radio refers to a bilateral conference to discuss the Cold War. – Truman dispels hopes for the conference the same day and reiterates the main points of the US note. – Henry Wallace’s open letter to Stalin. His proposals: public meeting of the US and the USSR, disarmament, including the banning of nuclear bombs and other weapons of mass destruction, the end of the use of secret agents, unrestricted trade, exchange of tourists and information.

May 17. Stalin warms up the idea of a Soviet-American meeting and declares that the Wallace letter offers a “good and fruitful basis” for a Soviet-American agreement. According to Stalin the “coexistence” of communism and capitalism and “the peaceful settlement of differences between the USSR and the US are not only possible, but also doubtless necessary in the interest of a general peace”. Stalin praised Wallace’s letter as “the most important” political document since the war, which contributes to peaceful international cooperation and the guarantee of security.

May 19. Secretary of State Marshall announces that a US proposal was sent to the USSR, France and Great Britain to convene a four-power conference in order to draft a convention guaranteeing the freedom of navigation on the river Danube for July 30. – June 15. The Soviet Union accepts the offer.® July 30.-August 18.

July 9. The State Department condemns Hungary for arresting civilians for listening to Voice of America.

July 19. Agreement on returning to Yugoslavia its assets frozen in the US during World War II.® September 8 1949.

July 30.-August 18. The Danube conference opens in Belgrade with the participation of ten nations. With seven votes to one (the US and Great Britain abstained, France voted against), the Soviet proposal on the international control of navigation on the river Danube is passed, which excludes the Western powers from participation. The Western powers did not participate in the signing ceremony. – The State Department accused the Soviet Union of “political and economic enslavement” of the Danubian peoples and announced: the US does not accept the convention for itself or the US zones of Germany and Austria. The other Western powers did not comment.

August 30. The second peacetime conscription of US history begins.

September 15. Disarmament proposal by deputy foreign minister Andrei Vishinsky: The US, China, the USSR, France and Great Britain should reduce its armed forces by one third in one year, offensive nuclear weapons should be banned, an organization within the UN Security Council should be established to control disarmament and the banning of nuclear weapons.

September 16. The US announces the recall of four members of its diplomatic representation in Bucharest after the Romanian authorities accused them of taking photographs of a Danube port.

September 24. The US condemns Bulgaria for the “systematic,” “ruthless” obliteration of Bulgarian democracy. The declaration came in response to a Bulgarian accusation that the US was excluding Bulgaria from the UN despite of the fact that it was keeping the terms of the peace treaty conscientiously.

September 26. Hungary expels two US businessmen, Ruedemann and Bannantine, the leaders of the US-Hungarian oil company.

October 9. Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill calls upon the West to deal with the Soviet Union while it still has the nuclear monopoly. According to Churchill, “Nothing stands between Europe today and complete subjugation to communist tyranny but the atomic bomb in American possession.” He called on the Soviet Union to release the satellites.

October 12. The US turns down Vishinsky’s proposal.

November 13. The UN Security Council votes against Vishinsky’s proposal.

January 10. President Truman requests from Congress the largest peacetime military budget (USD 14, 268 billion) in US history.

January 11. The US turns down Hungary’s request for the Crown of Saint Stephen. (Hungary ties the release of the Hungarian-US Oil Company’s former director, Robert Vogeler to the return of the Holy Crown. Vogeler was arrested and sentenced for alleged sabotage).

January 14. The State Department announces that the US will join a North-Atlantic security alliance to keep Russian threats from undermining “the efforts we and others made to promote international economic recovery”.® March 31 April 4. – Great Britain and Poland announce the largest commercial agreement signed by an Eastern European nation after the war: a trade turnover of over USD one billion over five years. Great Britain takes the Soviet Union’s place as Poland’s largest commercial partner. Poland is to export bacon, eggs, poultry, fish, berries, fruit, cheese, butter, lard and other foodstuffs to Great Britain and purchases wool, rubber, crude oil, semi finished goods, copper products, textile dye and other finished goods and productive equipment from England. – Great Britain releases 200 million dollars worth of Polish assets frozen during the war. Poland deposits USD 200 million to pay in one month for its British debt originating from the interwar period and pledges to remit 4% of its proceeds from British exports to compensate the owners of nationalized British property.® January 12 1950.

January 25. The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) is established.

January 26. Secretary of State Dean Acheson declares at a press conference that the Atlantic Alliance will preserve the Congress’s right to declare war, but makes it “absolutely clear in advance any attack affecting our national security would be met with overwhelming force”.

January 28. Great Britain, France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg announce the establishment of the Council of Europe. – According to the Soviet Foreign Ministry the project is a step along “the road toward of preparing for new aggression in Europe”. According to Moscow the Brussels group “had broken with peace-loving policy” and wishes to launch aggression against Russia’s East European allies.

January 30. Stalin’s peace offensive: he holds out the promise of lifting the blockade of West Berlin, a disarmament agreement and an anti-war pact. – A member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tom Connally and the Chairman of the Congress Foreign Relations Committee Sol Bloom, receive the offer favorably. – President Truman seems ready to receive Stalin in Washington while Stalin would rather negotiate in Moscow or Eastern Europe.

February 4. Great Britain and the US protest to the Hungarian government for not being able to send their observers to Cardinal Mindszenty’s trial, although according to the peace treaty they would have had the right to do so.® February 9 1949.

February 7-8. British foreign secretary Clement Attlee and French minister of foreign affairs Robert Schuman declare that they are against further four-power talks either on the foreign ministers’ or higher level until the Soviet Union shows readiness for cooperation by reducing cold war tension – preferably by eliminating the Berlin blockade.

February 9. According to Secretary of State Acheson the Mindszenty trial is a “conscienceless attack upon personal and religious freedom”. – The US Congress passes a resolution to the effect that the Mindszenty affair be taken to the UN. – February 10. Great Britain warns Hungary that it has the right to investigate all measures with which Hungary violates human rights and the peace treaty. Secretary of Foreign Affairs Bevin calls the Mindszenty trial “repugnant”, while Truman labels it “infamous”. – The United States expels the first secretary of the Hungarian Legation in Washington in retaliation against the fact that two US diplomats were expelled from Budapest. – February 12. Hungary demands that the US recall its minister in Budapest, Selden Chapin because of his alleged participation in the Mindszenty affair. Washington announces that Chapin had been called home for “consultations” earlier.® March 24.

February 17. According to Truman, the aim of the North Atlantic Alliance “is to provide unmistakable proof of the joint determination of the free countries to resist armed attack from any quarter”. – According to Senators Tom Connally and Arthur Vandenberg the pact does not obligate the US to automatically enter the war in the interest of a European member.

February 19. East-West agreement on drawing up an export-import list aimed at reviving trade between the two regions. The US will continue to ban the East European export of potential war materials, until the Soviet Union gives up its “aggressive” politics.

March 16. The US and Great Britain accuses Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary of violating the peace treaty and human rights.

March 17. The US protests against the nationalization of foreign property in Romania. France protested against the same on the 19^th.

March 24. Two assistant military attachés (Kopcsak and Merrill) are expelled from Hungary.

March 31. In a note the Soviet Union accuses the seven states initiating NATO that they are preparing to sign an openly aggressive treaty, they are violating the Atlantic Charter and other Soviet-Western treaties.

April 2. In diplomatic notes the US and Great Britain accuse Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary of violating the peace treaty by disregarding human rights.® April 30, 1949.

April 4. Twelve countries’ foreign ministers sign the North Atlantic Treaty. (The Washington treaty is based on the principle of collective defense, but does not automatically mean that the signatory powers would enter the war in case of aggression against another member state).® March 31, 1954.

April 5. US army chief of staff General Omar N. Bradley talks about the necessity of planning to save Western Europe from invasion “from the East”.

April 30. A UN resolution calls on Hungary and Bulgaria to respond to the Anglo-American charge according to which the trials of ecclesiastical officials violate the peace treaty.® June 1, June 23.

May 21. The European Economic Committee of the UN decides to set up a permanent committee for the development of East-West trade. The US and the Soviet Union support the resolution.

May 23.-June 20. The Paris conference of the Council of Foreign Ministers. Topics: German unification, the status of Berlin, preparation of the Austrian peace treaty.

May 30. Secretary of Commerce Sawyer admits in a Toronto speech that US foreign policy is directed at holding back East European export and only improvement of East-West relations can change this.

May 31. At a commercial conference in France, Czechoslovakia protests that the US is precluding the delivery of USD 27 million worth of goods ordered from the US.

June 1. Great Britain and the US announce that in the name of the peace treaty they demand of Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria to rectify the injustices committed against church leaders.

June 9. Speech by Secretary of Foreign Affairs Bevin’s speech: if the Soviet and Western peoples cannot live in the same system they could at least agree on “coexistence”.

June 14. It is revealed that the Soviet Union drastically reduced its chrome and manganese deliveries to the US. Soviet export to the US diminished but import increased.

June 23. Secretary of State Acheson accuses the Czechoslovak government that with the procedure against Cardinal Beran it is violating “the decencies of civilization”. He compares Cardinal Beran’s trial to the Hungarian, Bulgarian and other East European campaigns, which according to Acheson are interrelated and are part of a communist plan to subjugate the Catholic church.

July 8. It is published that an Anglo-Soviet commercial agreement was signed; in one year England will deliver to the USSR non-military aircraft in return for USD 950,000 worth of grain. This will be mainly wheat, a large part of which would have been purchased by the US and Canada.

July 22. In a note to London and Washington the USSR turns down the Anglo-American invitation for a three power conference to discuss the alleged violations of the peace treaty by Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.® October 13, 1949.

August 1. The US and Great Britain request Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania through diplomatic channels to allow unbiased observers to monitor observation of the peace treaty and human rights.

September 8. The US Export-Import Bank extends an USD 20 million loan to Yugoslavia. – Yugoslavia’s export to the US reached the highest level since the war since the Soviet Union halted its imports from Yugoslavia.® January 11, 1950.

September 25. The Soviet Union announces that it possesses the nuclear bomb. – According to Acheson the foundations of US foreign policy will not be changed by the Soviet possession of nuclear weapons. – Charles de Gaulle: the fact that the USSR has the A bomb weakens the Atlantic Alliance. According to De Gaulle the US “is neither obliged nor prepared to participate in the direct defense of our continent”. France will have to take care of its own defense. He proposes a direct French-German agreement.

October. The National Security Council prepares NSC 58/2, the first comprehensive guideline for US policy towards Eastern Europe. The document spells out the long- and short-term objectives of US policy in the region and makes recommendations as to their achievement. It designates the elimination of communist regimes in Eastern Europe as a long-term aim, the establishment of “national communist” regimes is an intermediate step.

October 13. The UN in a resolution requests that the International Court to give legal opinion on whether the Romanian, Hungarian and Bulgarian trials of treason violate the human rights provisions of the peace treaty.® April 27, 1950.

October 25. A US diplomat is expelled from Czechoslovakia because of alleged spying.

October 27. Two French diplomats are expelled from Czechoslovakia.

October 31. In reprisal for US diplomats arrested in Prague two Czechoslovak diplomats are expelled.

November 4. The US further restricts the East European export of strategic commodities. The Department of Commerce increases the number of goods on the positive list by a hundred.

November 14. According to a report in the month of September the USSR sold 7,1 million dollars worth of goods to the US, but purchased only for 100 thousand.

December 20. The US bans US citizens from traveling to Hungary and demands the release of the arrested American businessman, Robert Vogeler.® March 17, 1953.

December 23. England breaks off trade talks with Hungary due to the arrest of a British citizen, Edgar Sanders.

December 26. A British-Yugoslav commercial agreement worth USD 616 million is signed. In the framework of the treaty, Yugoslavia obtains a 22 million dollar credit for five years. Belgrade is to deliver lumber, maize, coloured metals for British wool, textile, chemicals, rubber goods, industrial equipment and two steam ships. This is Yugoslavia’s largest commercial treaty with a Western state since the war.

January 3. In a reprisal for the arrest of Robert Vogeler and the restrictions imposed on the US Legation in Budapest, the United States instructs Hungary to close its consulates in New York and Cleveland by January 15.® April 28, 1951.

January 11. The State Department reveals that according to a plan approved by President Truman and the NSC, the US would deliver military materials to Yugoslavia if the latter were attacked. The long-term objective of the US is to bring back Yugoslavia to the family of “free European nations” and this is to be achieved with economic aid.® March 1, 1950.

January 12. Talks between Poland and Britain on Poland’s prewar debt and indemnification to be paid for nationalized property are broken off.

January 31. President Truman instructs the US Atomic Energy Commission to develop the hydrogen bomb.® August 20, 1953.

February 8. Secretary of State Acheson rejects proposals for a Soviet-American atomic agreement prior to the development of the H bomb.

February 14. Former British Prime Minister Churchill proposes a summit between Stalin, Truman and the forthcoming British prime minister in order to forestall an atomic arms race. Former foreign secretary Eden comes up with a similar proposal.

February 15. According to British Foreign Secretary Bevin, atomic arms limitation has to be realized through the UN. Prime Minister Attlee presents a similar idea. – According to the French Foreign Ministry, Churchill’s proposal is worth considering. – February 13. Truman announces his willingness to receive Stalin in Washington. – February 16. Truman rejects the idea of a tripartite meeting.

February 21. The US severs diplomatic relations with Bulgaria. The reason: minister Heath and the employees of the American legation in Sofia are subjected to a systematic campaign of persecution.® February 3, 1950.

February 24. The US freezes East European (Bulgarian, Romanian and Hungarian) assets in the US.

February 27. The State Department bans US citizens from traveling to Bulgaria.

March 1. Yugoslavia receives another 20 million dollar loan to purchase US equipment.® December 18.-19, 1950.

March 11. Three American and two British military and commercial attachés are recalled from Hungary after the Hungarian authorities declared them persona non grata for their implication in the Sanders-Vogeler trial.® April 28.-July 3, 1951.

March 16. Acheson announces his three point peace plan. Some of these: peace treaty with Germany, Austria and Japan; the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Eastern Europe and free elections in the region; US diplomats should not be treated like criminals in the countries of the Soviet bloc.

March 20-25. There is no agreement at the Geneva meeting of the UN Agricultural Committee for the Western powers to purchase more Soviet grain and East European foodstuffs.

April 1. The US instructs Czechoslovakia to close its consulate in Chicago by May 1, in response to having had to close the Prague office of the USIS and the US consulate in Bratislava. – May 13. The US calls on Czechoslovakia to close its consulates in Pittsburgh and Cleveland and to reduce its diplomatic staff in Washington from 33 to 11. The US recalled 40 of its 60 diplomats in Czechoslovakia since Prague did not guarantee their safety. – May 27. Czechoslovakia has to close its consulate in New York by June 10 because US diplomats are harassed in Czechoslovakia. At the same time it is announced that the US closes its consulate in Bratislava.

April 26. As a reprisal for the closing of the Bucharest office of the USIS, the US bans Romania’s commercial office in New York.

April 27. The US calls on Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania to appoint members to the committee, which will investigate the alleged human rights violations of the three states.

May 15. London orders Czechoslovakia to close its information bureaus in Great Britain.

May 26. Romanian diplomats may not leave the 35 mile radius of Washington D.C. The measure came in response to the limitation of the movement of US diplomats in Romania.

August 18. The Department of Commerce rules that the 1100 items on the positive list may not be shipped to the 14 nations of the Soviet bloc without prior export license irrespective of the size of the shipment. – September 1. The US halts the delivery of 356 US military trucks bought by the Hungarian government in West Germany. – September 2. British Prime Minister Attlee declares that his country will never violate its basic defense needs in order to sell goods to Russia. – September 18. The British government announces that it is halting the Polish export of machine tools until it is known whether they are needed domestically, in the Commonwealth or in NATO countries.® October 18.

September 4. General Dwight D. Eisenhower opens the private broadcast named “Crusade for Truth,” the aim of which is to tell the truth about democracy to the peoples behind the Iron Curtain. According to Eisenhower the campaign will extend Radio Free Europe into a radio network. (From 1948 one of the key elements of American policy toward Eastern Europe was “psychological warfare” aimed at keeping alive resistance against the communist regimes).

September 9. Truman announces that the US will significantly increase the size of its armed forces in Europe.® February 8, 1951.

October 18. The British government rejects the proposal by the conservative party to stop the export of Malaysian rubber to the USSR.

November 6. It is announced that Great Britain will buy 800 thousand tons of grain from the Soviet Union, 200 thousand less than the previous year.

December 18-19. The US congress approves a 38 million dollar aid to Yugoslavia in order to forestall famine. The precondition of the loan is for it to be made public in Yugoslavia and for US observers to be able to monitor its distribution, which will have to be done without discrimination according to race, religion or political standing.

January. Truman’s State of the Union address. He warns that the US “will fight if fight we must, to keep our freedom and prevent justice from being destroyed”. He added, “we are willing…to negotiate honorable settlements with the Soviet Union” but will “not engage in appeasement”. According to Truman, the “only realistic road to peace” is for the US and the rest of the free world to build up their strength to the point where “the Soviet rulers may face the facts and lay aside their plans to take over the world ”. Washington will if needed, prepare for war mobilization. The economic and military aid to the allies must continue. “The defense of Europe is part of our own defense,” he said.

January 29. In response to a Hungarian measure restricting the movement of US diplomats to a 20 mile radius of the Hungarian capital, the US restricts the movement of Hungarian diplomats to a radius of 18 miles from the White House. – February 5. Britain and France impose travel restrictions on Hungarian diplomats.

February 8. The Congress approves sending US troops to Europe.® April 4, 1951.

February 16. Stalin announces that war is not inevitable “at present time” but may “become inevitable” “if the war mongers succeed in entangling the masses of the people in lies”.

March 4-June 21. The meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of the four great powers. The delegates manage to agree on the topics to be discussed. – June 9. The Western powers invite the USSR for a meeting of the four powers’ foreign ministers. The Soviet Union rejects the invitation. – The talks fail completely.

April 4. The US Senate approves of President Truman placing four US divisions under Eisenhower’s command, but the President must consult with the Congress before sending any more divisions to Europe.

April 28. Rober Vogeler, the former vice-president and Budapest representative of MAORT (Hungarian-American Oil Ltd.) is released from prison. In return the US agrees to reopen the New York and Cleveland Hungarian consulates; lifts the ban on the travel of US citizens to Hungary; reinstates 70 million dollars worth of Hungarian property from the American zone of Germany; changes the wavelength of VOA so as not to interfere with Budapest radio. The Holy Crown is not returned.

May 6. According to a report by the UN Economic Committee Western Europe sold 269 million dollars worth of machinery to Eastern Europe in 1950, twice as much as in 1948. In the same period US sales of the same products to East Europe dropped by 93%: from 48, 1 million dollars to 3,3 million. According to the State Department spokesman the Soviet export of the United States almost ceased to exist and consists of a few non-strategic materials. It dropped from the 1947 level of 150 million dollars to 750 thousand dollars in 1950.

June 8. The Yugoslavian government announces: The chief of staff of the Yugoslavian army, General Koca Popovic visited the US to purchase military materials.® November 14, 1951.

June 18. According to a Belgrade report the US delivered one million dollars worth of weapons to Yugoslavia. – June 19. The Department of Defense of the US affirms the report on the Yugoslav arms sale. According to the Pentagon, the US and other Western countries “wish to assist Yugoslavia in preserving its independence against growing Soviet pressure”.® August 28 1951.

June 23. According to the State Department the trial of archbishop József Grõsz in Hungary “means the maintenance of communist pressure in order to suppress human rights and freedom” and to eliminate the moral influence of the church.

July 3. At Hungary’s request the USIS closes its library in Budapest.

July 15. In reprisal for the expulsion of two US diplomats from the US Legation in Budapest, the US calls on Hungary to recall two of its own diplomats. – August 9. The US closes Poland’s information center in New York because Poland closed the US information service in Warsaw.

July 31. The US cancels the customs preferences granted to Czechoslovakia under the customs agreement of Geneva.

August 1. The US suspends the commercial benefits of the communist states. The measure includes the Soviet Union, “Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia,” Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and the GDR.

August 6. Motion by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to ban atomic weapons. – August 7. The State Department rejects the proposal of the Supreme Soviet since it contains no new elements and Moscow does not keep its existing agreements. – August 8. According to Dean Acheson the Soviet proposal is directed at thwarting the Japanese peace treaty.

August 15. According to the British Department of Commerce England must continue to trade with Eastern Europe.

August 28. The US, Great Britain and France announce that in the rest of 1951 they will provide a fifty-million dollar aid for Yugoslavia.® October 13, 1952.

September 24. The US cancels the provisions of the Kem amendment for the NATO member states. (According to the Kem amendment, US aid cannot be granted to states that fail to observe the export ban to the Soviet zone of products on the US positive list). – October 11. According to new legislation passed in the House of Representatives, US military and economic aid cannot be granted to countries that ship strategic materials to the Soviet bloc without US approval.® November 14, 1951. The US International Bank grants a 20 million dollar loan to Yugoslavia.® April 5 1953.

November 3. It is revealed that the US passed the Mutual Security Act, which will enable President Truman to assist East European underground movements from a 100 million dollar fund.

November 7. The US, Great Britain and France announce a joint disarmament and peace plan. According to the proposal to be presented in the UN on November 8, a special formula would determine how many weapons each nation would need to disarm after having made an inventory of their arms according to weapon types. The arms would be inventoried step-by-step.- November 18. The disarmament proposal of the Western powers. Compromises: the ban on nuclear weapon is an objective; peace in Korea and the settlement of other outstanding East-West disputes is not a precondition of disarmament; the UN Security Council would draft the disarmament agreement. – November 28. The US, British and French UN delegates propose a four-power disarmament plan. Soviet foreign minister Vishinsky labels the plan hypocritical.

November 14. A Yugoslav-American mutual security agreement is signed in Belgrade in the framework of which the US gives military equipment and materials as well as services to Yugoslavia.

November 15. President Truman rejects a proposal by French President Vincent Auriol for a Pleven-Churchill-Stalin meeting.

November 16. Vishinsky’s disarmament proposal: atomic weapons should be “disarmed under strict international control”. The US, the USSR, England and France should reduce their armed forces within one year; all nations should reveal the number of their nuclear arms one month after the nuclear weapons are banned; an international committee supervised by the UN Security Council should control disarmament and the execution of the ban of nuclear weapons. – December 3. Vishinsky rejects the international supervision of Soviet atomic facilities.® January 12, 1952.

November 12. Truman permits General Motors to sell 216 thousand dollars worth of non-strategic trucks and automobile parts to Poland.

November 26. Eisenhower recommends the creation of a common European Army, which would include the West German army and that of the Western European political union.® February 25, 1952.

December 26. The US announces that it is willing to pay ransom for the military personnel of the US military plane that was forced to land in Hungary by a Soviet jet in November. Truman announces that there is nothing he can do about the matter. Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tom Connally demands breaking off of diplomatic relations with Hungary. – December 28. The four US flyers are released for a 120 thousand dollar ransom. Acheson announces a ban on the visit of US citizens to Hungary and the Cleveland and New York Hungarian consulates are closed immediately.® December 10, 1952.

January 4. The US, France and Great Britain grant a 25 million dollar loan to Yugoslavia.

January 12. Vishinski’s disarmament proposal: the Soviet Union accepts the “strict international control” of Atomic Energy, which would enter into force after the banning of the A bomb, but the observers may not intervene in domestic affairs and may not stay continuously in the atomic facilities.

January 18. The Department of Treasury expropriates a steel mill purchased by Czechoslovakia in 1948, the parts of which are in a warehouse. The measure was taken on the basis of the 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act.

February 5. Truman announces a 478 million dollar military assistance for the rearmament programs England, France, Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia.

February 18. The US Senate proposes for the US to sever diplomatic relations with Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

February 20. The US House of Representatives warns Truman not to make secret promises about sending US troops abroad.

February 24. Secretary of Commerce Sawyer announces that Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland, Luxembourg, Italy, Great Britain, Norway, Germany and Portugal joined the US embargo on strategic materials to Eastern Europe.® September 2. – March 14. The US Department of Commerce reports that in 1951 US export to the Soviet bloc diminished to 2,8 million dollars from the 6.7 million figure in 1950. US import from the Soviet bloc decreased from 80.5 million dollars in 1950 to 63.5 million dollars in 1952.

February 25. The Lisbon conference of NATO accepts the plan relating to the establishment of the European Army, which would include the FRG.® October 3, 1954.

March 10. The US and France restrict the movement of Soviet diplomats. US authorities ban 239 Soviet persons from leaving the 25 mile radius of Washington and of New York. The measure does not involve the 144 Soviet diplomats assigned to the UN. – May 1. The US announces that the US passport is valid to the Soviet bloc if the visit is preapproved by the State Department.

April 12. The East-West trade conference in Moscow comes to an end, where they concluded or started talks on deals worth 250-300 million dollars.

June 5. Truman instructs the Department of Treasury to deprive Hungary of all custom benefits by July 5.

July 10. The Republican Party publishes its electoral platform. Foreign policy: “The present administration in seven years squandered the unprecedented power and prestige, which were ours at the close of World War II. Administration leaders abandoned friendly nations such as Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czechoslovakia and Poland… to the communist aggression which soon swallowed them.” “The supreme goal of our foreign policy will be an honorable and just peace.” The Republican administration “will repudiate all commitments of secret understandings, such as those of Yalta, which aid communist enslavement.” It will end the “containment” policy.

July 24. According to the official platform of the Democratic Party the US “will not abandon the once-free peoples of Central and Eastern Europe…now under the Kremlin’s tyranny”. We look forward to” liberation of the Soviet satellites and we will expand “Voice of America” programs “for penetration of the Iron Curtain, bringing truth and hope for all…subjugated by the Soviet empire”.

August 12. The disarmament proposal of the US, Great Britain and France in the UN. – August 29. In response the Soviet UN representative declared that the USSR accepts its own disarmament formula only.

August 18. The Mutual Security Administration guarantees to cover the possible losses incurred in Yugoslavia by US businessmen. They make possible the conversion of the dinar into dollars.

September 2. The US Department of Commerce announces an agreement between eleven countries on the stricter export control of 200 commodities and on precluding them from reaching the nations behind the Iron Curtain. Among the signatories there is the US, Britain and France.® October 8, 1953.; March 30, 1954.

September 4. The program of presidential candidate Eisenhower: “Aid by peaceful means but only by peaceful means, the right to live in freedom.” “The containing of communism… by itself is an inadequate approach”; “There is also a need to bring hope and every peaceful aid to the world’s enslaved peoples; we shall never be truculent – but we shall never appease.” – Pravda compares Eisenhower to Hitler and accuses him of wanting war with the Soviet Union in order to dominate the greater part of Europe and Asia.

September 11. According to Acheson, the proposal made by John Foster Dulles and presidential candidate Eisenhower for the forced liberation of the satellites “leads to catastrophe”.

October 3. The Soviet Union demands that the US recall its ambassador in Moscow, George F. Kennan, since Kennan made derogatory remarks about the USSR. Secretary of State Acheson defends the ambassador: he gave a realistic picture of the USSR in claiming that it completely isolates American diplomats from the outside world.

October 13. The US, France and Britain announce that they will continue to aid Yugoslavia for one more year in the value of 99 million dollars altogether. Washington contributes 78 million dollars.

December 10. In a diplomatic note the US demands that Hungary and the Soviet Union return the C-47 type aircraft forced to land on November 19, 1951 or pay 100 thousand dollars in compensation.® March 3, 1954.

December 31. President elect Dwight D. Eisenhower in a message to the youth living behind the Iron Curtain declared that they are “not forgotten”.

January 27. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles on US foreign policy: the “captive” people of Eastern Europe “can count on us”. According to Dulles, the arrests and trials in Eastern Europe are signs of the Soviet Union’s weakness.

February 20. Eisenhower calls on Congress to pass a resolution, which would repudiate “any interpretations or applications,” “employment and interpretation” of secret World War II pacts, “which have been perverted to bring about the subjugation of free peoples” and proclaiming that the people who have been subjugated to Soviet despotism shall again enjoy the right of self-determination within a framework which will sustain peace. – March 5. Because of Stalin’s illness, the US Congress postpones discussion of the draft resolution. – March 10. Deliberation of the draft resolution is postponed indefinitely. Some opponents of the draft want to condemn even the fact that the agreements were made and found the formula of distorting the agreements insufficient.

February 25. Eisenhower announces that he is willing to meet with Stalin at any suitable time or place if he thought it would improve the chance for peace. - February 26. According to Dulles the President is not planning to meet Stalin, but even if they did meet, Eisenhower would not employ the policy of appeasement.

March 5. The death of Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin. Western reactions: Eisenhower instructs the State Department for official condolences but omits all references to sympathy toward Stalin or appraisal of his role. – March 7. The British government expressed condolences “according to normal diplomatic procedure”. – March 9. According to Dulles, “The world has been dominated by the malignant power of Stalin” for ten years, but this has ended with the dictator’s death. – March 12. Foreign Secretary Eden opines that the West cannot change its cold war policies because of Stalin’s death; preparation must be made for East-West talks if the East does not use them for propaganda purposes.

March 13. The US warns Czechoslovakia that it will take necessary defense measures if the Czechs repeat the provocative incident of March 10 when they shot down a Thunderjet type aircraft over the US zone.

March 16-21. President Tito’s visit to Britain. According to a communiqué of the meeting, European aggression will not be regarded a “local” affair. According to Tito, Churchill promised to defend Yugoslavia in case it was attacked.

March 17. Britain rejects Hungary’s offer to exchange Edgar Sanders. According to Prime Minister Churchill England is applying economic pressure on Hungary and will achieve the release of Sanders with “different methods”.® August 17, 1953.

April 5. The US grants an 11 million dollar draught relief to Yugoslavia. This raises the amount of US aid to Yugoslavia to 106, 75 million dollars since the Balkan state broke with the Soviet Union.® September 13, 1955.

April 16. Eisenhower’s peace offensive. The President’s proposals: step-by-step disarmament; the reduction of national armed forces; the reduction of the use of strategic materials for military purposes, the international control of atomic energy, the limitation or banning of weapons of “great destructive power;” UN supervision of disarmament; the extension of the European community, which would mean the free flow of people, goods and ideas; the full independence of East European peoples.

April 20. In a speech given in the House of Commons, Churchill urges a meeting of the great powers.

April 28. Molotov’s proposal for a five-power peace agreement.

May 11. Prime Minister Churchill proposes “East-West differences be taken up at the highest level…between the leading powers without delay,” the conference should be limited to the least number of participants possible. According to Churchill, Stalin’s death changed the Kremlin’s attitude. Both the government party and the opposition received the proposal favorably. The State Department praised Churchill’s lofty initiative but until the settlement of the Korean and the Austrian questions sees no prospect for a conference. – France expresses outrage at the fact that Churchill did not publicly call on France to participate at the conference. – May 29. According to the State Department the US will not participate at a high level conference of great powers without France.

May 16. Czechoslovakia releases the American journalist William Oatis, who was sentenced for espionage to ten years in 1951. – The State Department denies a US-Czechoslovak agreement for the release of Oatis, but will consider the cancellation of the restrictions that were imposed on US-Czechoslovak relations because of Oatis’ arrest.

May 26. The US expels the first secretary of the Romanian Legation in Washington.

June 5. The US announces that the import of Czechoslovak goods to the US, the export of non-strategic commodities to Czechoslovakia and the well-founded business trips of US citizens there are once more permitted.

June 8. President Eisenhower’s committee on information activity recommends that the Psychological Strategy Board be replaced by an Operation Coordination Committee working under the National Security Council. According to the president of the committee, psychological strategy cannot be dealt with separately from official policy and foreign policy. The new committee would work out a detailed plan for psychological warfare to be waged on this basis and not separately. According to the White House summary of the report, there is no reliable evidence to the effect that the recent changes in the Soviet leadership,Soviet politics and in Soviet tactics changed Soviet aspirations for a communist world under the Kremlin’s rule.

July 10. Lavrentii Beria’s fall is announced in the Soviet Union. – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Alexander Wiley: “this may be one of our greatest opportunities” to “exploit boiling tensions inside the Iron Curtain” and expose “the true hideous nature of the Soviet slaughterhouse”.

July 31. Washington rejects Czecholovakia’s protest against Crusade for Freedom sending balloons from West Germany to Czechoslovakia. According to the US note it is “inevitable” that the outside world tries to break through “the wall sealing off the (Czech) people”.

August 17. The British official of ITT Edgar Sanders is released from Hungarian prison. Sanders had been in jail since 1949 for espionage. – August 18. The British government lifts the trade ban on Hungary, which had been introduced because of the imprisonment of Sanders.

August 20. Moscow announces a successful hydrogen bomb test.

August 27. The US, Great Britain and France relax the travel restrictions imposed on Soviet diplomats.

September 18. Secretary of State Dulles in a speech urges the USSR agree to the independence of the present Soviet satellites.

September 28. The Soviet government calls on the US, England and France for a foreign ministers’ conference with the Soviet Union and China to relieve tensions in the world; for the solution of the Austrian and the German problem. – According to Churchill the meeting between the four powers would be desirable.® October 28, 1953., November 26, 1953. – According to the State Department the Soviet proposal is “evasive” and “dilatory”.

September 30. According to the Foreign Office the Soviet note contained few new elements. The British, French and American foreign secretaries consult on the next step. – Eisenhower declares that the Soviet hydrogen bomb makes it even more important to find out whether the Soviet bloc is interested in a negotiated settlement.

October 6. According to Dulles the US, England, West Germany and France are studying the possibility of a non-aggression treaty with the USSR. The Soviet Union must receive guarantee against a German attack.

October 7. Foreign secretary Eden declares that Britain wants to hold East-West talks; its security is not threatened.

October 8. The US and Great Britain announce their troop withdrawal from zone A of Trieste to be handed over to Italy. Yugoslavia protests against the decision. – October 11. Tito declares that “the moment” Italian troops are sent to the A zone he will send troops there. – October 12. The Soviet Union accuses the US and Britain of violating the Italian peace treaty.® October 5, 1954. According to French Deputy Prime Minister Reynaud the West’s trade restrictions against the Soviet sphere should be relaxed so as to be able to get concessions from the communists on a reciprocal basis. He opines that the embargo of strategic commodities could be lifted because it is not very effective.

October 28. Eisenhower announces that he is willing to talk about peace with Soviet premier Georgii Malenkov, but first he needs proof of the Soviets’ honest intentions. – November 3. The Soviet Union rejects the proposal for four-power talks since he wants to include China in them.

November 26. The Soviet Union announces that it is ready to take part in a foreign ministers’ level four-power conference. – December 8. The three Western powers accept the Soviet proposal.® January 25, 1954-February 18, 1954.

December 8. President Eisenhower’s disarmament proposal: the countries participating in the nuclear arms race, including the Soviet Union should hand over their nuclear arsenal to a UN-controlled fissionable material bank. – December 9. Soviet foreign minister Vishinsky announces Soviet rejection of the Eisenhower plan, since it continues to insist on the total ban of nuclear weapons. – December 11. The Soviet leadership conditionally agrees to discuss the Eisenhower proposal with the US and other great powers. Condition: the Soviet proposal on banning the hydrogen and the atomic bomb must be discussed at the conference. – December 22. According to Dulles, the US is willing to discuss disarmament with the USSR.

January 4. Czechoslovakia’s membership is suspended in the World Bank because it failed to settle its 625 thousand dollar debt. (Czechoslovakia was the only Iron Curtain member state of the financial organization).

January 7. Eisenhower’s State of the Union address. According to the PresidentAmerican freedom is threatened so long as the world communist conspiracy exists in its present scope, power and hostility. The US counts on nuclear arms to defend freedom. – January 12. John Foster Dulles on US strategy: The US will respond with immediate retaliation to aggression “in the place and means of its own choosing”. (According to the doctrine of massive retaliation the US would consider responding to aggression with its nuclear arsenal. The doctrine was credible because the US was virtually invulnerable to nuclear attack at the time). According to Dulles the best way to deter aggression is “to depend primarily upon a great capacity to retaliate instantly”. The US, in the secretary’s view, does not seek the illusion of security in a diplomatic “deal” which “would seem to indorse captivity” of other peoples. The Eisenhower administration wants to introduce more efficient and less costly defense measures by putting more emphasis on deterrence and less on local defense bases.

January 11. Eden calls for compromise solution of the East-West stalemate. – Soviet-American discussion on Eisenhower’s nuclear disarmament plan.

January 14. The US Secretary of Commerce reports that 5754 requests for export license arrived from behind the Iron Curtain, 4265 of these have been issued. In the first nine months of 1953 the US exported 28,7 million dollars worth of merchandise the Soviet bloc (1952: 39,5 million). In the same period US export reached 1,7 billion dollars. US import from the East bloc was one million dollars out of 11,8 billion dollars. In the same period of 1952, US imports from the Soviet bloc totaled 1,1 million dollars. – January 19. The Secretary of Commerce prohibits a Minnesota company from exporting 40 million pounds of butter to the USSR. The reason: the price would have been smaller than the domestic price.® February 10, 1954.

January 25.-February 18. The foreign ministers of the four powers meet for the first time in four years in West Berlin. From February 1 the conference continues in East Berlin. – Soviet goals: to drop plans for the European Defense Community (EDC); reduction of arms; the increase of East-West trade; China’s inclusion in the talks; the exclusion of the US from the defense of Europe. – The unified Western aims: Western defense is non-negotiable; free elections in Germany, so as for it not to be isolated in the heart of Europe, but at the same time the revival of German militarism must be avoided. – February 10. Molotov’s plan on a pan-European collective security agreement. The plan would nullify NATO and the EDC. – Dulles: the Molotov plan would make it possible to integrate Western Europe into the Soviet empire. – Bidault: France will not surrender its friendly relations with the US and attacks Molotov for trying to torpedo Western Europe's defense. Eden: the Molotov plan is the Europeanized version of the Monroe doctrine.

January 28. Eisenhower’s program on East-West trade: The US will maintain the embargo of strategic commodities until real peace is realized, but the exchange of peaceful products has to be increased because it would be to the West’s advantage, it would facilitate penetration behind the Iron Curtain and would bring the day closer when East-West relations could be normalized.

February 10. The Department of Commerce announces that it will prohibit the export of government owned agricultural surplus for cash to the Soviet Union and its satellites. The Soviet export of 3000 tons of cotton seed is prohibited for a Minnesota firm.

February 21. It is announced that in 1953 almost half of the US export to the USSR (320-325 million dollars) were consumer goods.

February 25. Churchill’s speech in the House of Commons on East-West trade: the “significant” relaxation of Western embargo would improve the chance for East-West coexistence. More trade with the East would avert war; “friendly infiltration” would be good. – The US closes Poland’s New York, Chicago and Cleveland consulates since they serve no diplomatic purpose.

March 3. The US takes the case of the C-47 type aircraft that had been forced to land in 1951 by the Soviet Union and Hungary to the International Court in Hague. The plane’s value approaches USD 100 thousand, the US paid a 123 thousand dollar fine for the release of the crew.

March 17. President Eisenhower announces that he would order immediate retaliation if the US were attacked by any nation. (On March 1 the US announced that it successfully exploded its second hydrogen [thermonuclear] device. The device is thought to be suitable for use as a weapon.® April 5, 1954.

March 19. J. F. Dulles briefs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on new US foreign policy called “new look”. The aim: to make the USSR understand that it would be up against the full US nuclear potential if it threatened the US or its vital interests. – March 22. Eden announces that the British government is no longer dealing with the Molotov proposal.

March 20. A Bulgarian-French economic agreement is signed. France delivers textile, chemicals, medicine, machines and other products to Bulgaria for agricultural products. The deal is worth three billion French francs.

March 22. The president of the British Board of Trade declares that the British government urges maximal trade with the Soviet Union in goods that do not involve Western security. He does not think it is desirable to maintain the “long-term, loose and ineffective blockade” of the USSR.

March 23. It is announced that Britain is selling one million pounds worth of milk wrapping machines to the USSR.

March 30. The US, Great Britain and France “redefine” their embargo on strategic shipping to communist countries in order to increase East-West trade.® April 8, 1954. – Eisenhower recommends more tolerance for the East-West exchange of non-strategic goods in case it does not harm his country’s security interest.® November 3, 1955.

March 31. The Soviet Union offers to enter NATO. The Western powers immediately reject the “Trojan horse” plan.

April 5. In a television and radio speech Eisenhower assures Americans that the US will not use the H bomb first; the danger of war, the economic crisis and the domestic communist penetration has been exaggerated. According to the President, the USSR does not want to start a war.

April 7. General Charles de Gaulle accuses the US of interfering in French domestic affairs. Among other things he accuses the US of uniting other countries against the communist armies while devoting only money and war materials for the “long term” defense. According to De Gaulle the EDC would cause “a state of permanent revolt in France”; make it dependent on the US for defense, undermine its sovereignty and even “dissolve France by merging her with vanquished Germany”. ® August 14.

April 8. The West initiates a new trade policy, which would increase East-West trade. Accordingly Washington defines the strategic value of export commodities along the following lines: use in the US, the free world and the Soviet bloc; significance for the Russian armed forces and relative rarity in the Soviet bloc; possibility of production in the Soviet bloc; sources outside the US, re-export and smuggling; the possibility of conversion from peaceful to military use.

April 13. Great Britain announces that it supports the EDC.

April 27. Poland’s embassy in Paris reveals a proposal to France for a treaty of alliance and mutual cooperation. The proposal is directed against the EDC and a potential German attack.

June 11. According to a new US-British-French proposal on disarmament, nuclear arms could be used for defense purposes alone. – June 24. The Soviet Union rejects the plan.

July 7. As a result of a US-British agreement the number of commodities not eligible for sale to the Soviet bloc is reduced.

July 17. The US announces that eleven Czechoslovak and Hungarian priests are admitted into the US to participate at an international ecclesiastical conference.

July 24. The Soviet Union’s proposal for a European security conference.

August 10-11. A delegation of the British Labour party visits Moscow. The delegation is headed by former Prime Minister Clement Attlee and is received by Georgii Malenkov.

August 14. A proposal by French prime minister Mendes-France for the modification of the EDC. The proposal is directed at reducing the organization’s supranational character to facilitate its ratification by the French National Assembly.

August 30. The French National Assembly votes against the EDC by 319 to 264.

October 3. A decision is made on the FRG’s NATO membership.® October 23, 1954.

October 5. The US, Great Britain, Yugoslavia and Italy sign an agreement on Trieste. According to the agreement zone A will belong to Italian control, while zone B to Yugoslavia’s. The agreement states that the Italian peace treaty could not be implemented, under which Trieste would have been a free zone. – The Soviet Union presents a new disarmament proposal to the UN. According to Vishinsky an international agreement needs to be signed to ban atomic and hydrogen bombs as well as other weapons of mass destruction. This would be controlled by an international organization. Armed forces would have to be reduced by 50% in six months to one year. A provisional organ needs to be established under the aegis of the UN, which would be empowered to request information on compliance.

October 20. The Soviet Union rejects the Western proposal, which would have sought a compromise between the Soviet proposal on one hand and the British-French one on the other.

October 23. An agreement is signed in Paris on the restoration of the sovereignty of the FRG. West Germany and Italy will be part of the Western European union, the FRG receives NATO membership, its limited rearmament is permitted. The agreement, which is made up of four parts is signed by 15 states.® May 9, 1955. – The USSR condemns the agreement and recommends a four-power conference.® November 13, 1954.

November 9. Churchill inspires East and West to try and coexist in friendship. Churchill deems the strength of the West as the token of peace and states that communism is the Russians’ own affair as long as they do not endanger the freedom of other nations.

November 13. The Soviet Union’s proposal for a European conference on collective security. Its purpose is to forestall the ratification of the Paris treaty. The West rejects the proposal.

November 23. French Prime Minister Mendes-France would support the establishment of an East-European defense organization if it were directed at arms control and supervision and would operate on the principle of openness like its Western counterpart.

December 6-7. The West wants non-official talks with the USSR. Secretary of State Dulles instructs the US ambassador in Moscow Charles Bohlen to establish informal contact with the Soviet leaders. – France instructs its ambassador in Moscow to find out whether Moscow is willing to sign the Austrian treaty on the basis of the French proposal.