Levéltári Közlemények, 48–49. (1978)

Levéltári Közlemények, 48–49. (1978) - FORRÁSKÖZLÉS - Vida István: Iratok a Nagy Ferenc vezette magyar kormányküldöttség 1946. évi amerikai látogatásának történetéhez / 245–281. o.

Iratok a magyar kormányküldöttség 1946. évi amerikai látogatásának történetéhez 277 25. Washington, 1946. június 26. John D. Hickersonnak, a. Külügyminisztérium Európai Ügyek Osztálya megbízott vezetőjének memoranduma Szegedy-Maszák Aiadár washingtoni magyar követtel folytatott megbeszéléséről. PARTICIPANTS:. Mr. Aladár Szegedy-Maszák. Hungarian Minister. Mr. John Hickerson, Acting Director, Office of European Affairs. Mr. Szegedy-Maszák, the Hungarian Minister, came in to see me at 12:30 p.m. today by appointment made at his request. The Minister said that he had come in to express again his grateful appreciation of everything which the US Governmem had done in connection with the visit of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Mr. Nagy and his party. The Minister said that not only had the visit been an outstanding success but that it was by far the most encouraging development which has happened since Hungary's liberation. He said that it was much more successful than any other visit which the Prime Minister or other Hungarian leaders have made to foreign countries. He said that he did not wish to take up the Acting Secretary's time but he requested me to bring these statements to the attention of Mr. Acheson and I agreed to do so. I told the Hungarian Minister that we were grateful for what he had said and that, as Mr. Acheson had informed Prime Minister Nagy, when he left the United States to return to his country, he would leave in this country many friends of Hungary and of Mr. Nagy personally. The Hungarian Minister then gave me several interesting sidelights in connection with the trip. He said that Mr. Rákosi, the Deputy Prime Minister, appeared to be much disappointed at the success of the visit. Rákosi remarked on leaving the United States that he hoped that this would be his last visit to the United States. The Minister said that the other members of the party enjoyed Mr. Rákosi's reaction considerably, since they had been enormously pleased with the visit and tremenduously impressed with everything they saw here. The Minister said that Rákosi was secretly as much impressed as the other members of the party but that he tried hard to find something to criticize everywhere he went. For instance, during the visit to TVA, he said, Rákosi saw one youngster in the vicinity who was barefooted; after that he remarked on a number of occasions that TVA could not have been an unqualified success since some of the people in the area were without shoes. The Minister said that Mr. Lilienthal

1 had been kindness itself to them during the visit and had shown them every consideration. At one point Mr. Lilienthal remarked that he hoped very much that something along the lines of TVA would be worked out on the Danube. Mr. Rákosi replied that that would be splendid "provided there was not too much American imperialism mixed up with it". This gratuitous remark annoyed the Prime Minister and other members of the party considerably. The Hungarian Minister said that during the reception which he gave for the delegation, he introduced Mr. Rákosi to Mrs. Henry Wallace,

2 Rákosi commented to Mrs. Wallace that he was "delighted to meet the wife of the outstanding American pinko". The Minister said that this didn't go down too well with Mrs. Wallace even though he was not sure that she realized fully that Rákosi was being deliberately insulting since Communists have nothing but contempt for "pinkos", and other so-called half-measure boys. The Minister said that Mr. Rákosi commented in New York just prior to his departure from the United States that he was doubtful how long the coalition government could continue in Hungary and said that he was inclined to believe that it would be preferable for the Communists to withdraw from the coalition. I inquired of the Minister whether he understood that we were awaiting word from the Hungarians in regard to the restitution of the gold; that is, the assurances that Hungary will meet claims of other countries for the return of any part of this gold which may be proved to have been looted. The Minister said that he did understand this and that the assurances would be given to us after the Prime Minister returned to Budapest. He commented parenthetically that he hoped very much that