AMERICAN EMBASSY
UNITED STATES MILITARY MISSION
MOSCOW,
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
 
2 December 1944.
 
General George C. Marshall,
Chief of Staff, United States Army,
War Department,
Washington, D.C.
 
Dear General Marshall:
 
Now that I have been in Russia for some time and am qualified
as an "expert," I think it might be of some interest to you to have my general reactions. They may
be of value to you since I have served under you long enough to enable you to evaluate them. A
report is always more useful if one knows the reporter.
 
              Everyone will agree on the importance of collaboration with Russia -- now and in the
future. It won't be worth a hoot, however, unless it is based on mutual respect and made to work
both ways. I have sat at innumerable Russian banquets and become gradually nauseated by
Russian food, vodka, and protestations of friendship. Each person high in public life proposes a
toast a little sweeter than the preceding one on Soviet-British-American friendship. It is amazing
how these toasts go down past the tongues in the cheeks. After the banquets we send the Soviets
another thousand airplanes, and they approve a visa that has been hanging fire for months. We
then scratch our heads to see what other gifts we can send, and they scratch theirs to see what
else they can ask for.
 
     This picture may be overdrawn, but not much. When the Red Army was back on its heels,
it was right for us to give them all possible assistance with no questions asked. It was right to
bolster their morale in every way we could. However, they are no longer back on their heels; and,
if there is one thing they have plenty of, it's self-confidence. The situation has changed, but our
policy has not. We still meet their requests to the limit of our ability, and they meet ours to the
minimum that will keep us sweet.
 
              The truth is that they want to have as little to do with foreigners, Americans included, as
possible. We never make a request or proposal to the Soviets that is not viewed with suspicion.
They simply cannot understand giving without taking, and as a result even our giving is viewed
with suspicion. Gratitude cannot be banked in the Soviet Union.