Cseh Valentin szerk.: „70 éve alakult a MAORT” – tanulmányok egy bányavállalat történetéből (2009)

Tamás Magyarics: The United States and the Issue of MAORT's Nationalisation

outbalanced her substantially in the region as far as conventional armed forces went. The Truman administration held weak cards in the Central European game of power to begin with, and it did not even want to play those it had on account of realistic politics related considerations either; what is more it also strove for compromise with the Soviet Union

—at least until 1947: the birth of the Truman Doctrine (March 12) and the Marshall Plan (June 5). For example, the State Department rejected the proposal of its Ambassador in Prague on providing a couple of ten-millions in aid money to the Czechoslovakian government - which could still be considered neutral at the time - saying that the proposed amount would surely be lost due to the anticipated political changes, and nationalization that was forecast. In Hungary on the other hand, then US Ambassador Arthur Schoenfeld in part convinced the Export-Import Bank of Washington that the USD 10 million loan that the Hungarian government applied for would ultimately end up in Soviet hands, therefore it would not be worth disbursing, and in part denied the Smallholders' Party ('Kisgazdapárt') all financial aid with the explanation - substantiated through international law - that Washington does not wish to interfere in Hungarian domestic politics; this was at a time when the Hungarian Communist Party was receiving substantial political and financial support from the Soviets. We have to note here, that the United States was not as keen to abide by international legal standards in countries the)- considered important: in Italy, for example, the Christian Democrats received considerable American financial support before Parliamentary elections. The United States took up Hungary's cause on just one occasion: they defeated the excessive degree of Soviet restitution demands against Hungary at the 1947 Paris peace talks, and managed to decrease the amount of compensation to be paid by Hungary to the Soviet Union, as well as Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia by half (USD 300 million). Besides the realities of high politics, the political influence of western powers in Hungary was decreased by the fact that the Allied Control Commission's chairmanship went to the Soviets, who exploited their advantageous position resulting thereof to the full. In terms of economics, the Potsdam Agreement - which allowed for the expropriation of German assets - also played into Moscow's hands in the areas occupied by the Red Army. Arthur Schoenfeld recognised as early as the spring of 1946 that free elections on their own could not help Hungary to remain independent at a time when control over its economic life was practically taken over by the Soviets completely or at least this is where their efforts were heading. The US Ambassador was of the opinion that there was not anybody among the Hungarian political factors who could counteract this process with sufficient strength and power, apart from essentially one or two exceptions. Washington raised its voice most forcibly against Hungary's economy ending up under complete Soviet control on March 2, 1946. On that day, George F. Kennan, the US chargé d'affaires in Moscow expounded his position in an aide-memoire to his government, according to which restoring the Hungarian economy is important from the perspective of the European continent's rehabilitation. The primary reason for US leaders' concerns about the state of Europe's economy was that a possible economic meltdown would have had disastrous effects on the United States as well. Furthermore, from the political and international law perspective (occupying forces are obliged to maintain order in territories that end up in their control, guaranteeing adequate standard of living and protection of assets, etc.) the United States was worried that if Europe's traditional agricultural areas in Central and Eastern Europe will not be able to provide the west