The Problem of Returning of American Diplomats to Liberated Czechoslovak Republic

Abstract

The article examines the circumstances of the return of American diplomats to the territory of Czechoslovakia liberated by the Red Army in the first half of 1945. On the basis of archival documents, the interaction between American and Soviet diplomats concerning the dates of the arrival of American representatives in the Czechoslovak Republic with the view to officially restoring the US Embassy in this country was studied. The political context that accompanied the coordination of the quantitative composition of the American mission, its routes to the destination and the location of the embassy in liberated Prague in May 1945 is also examined. The starting point for the analysis is the conclusion of the Central European Division of the US State Department made in January 1945, supported by the opinion of the US Ambassador to the USSR A. Harriman, that the relations of the Czechoslovak Government with the American, British and Soviet Governments were “excellent” and did not pose any problems. The development of the US-Soviet dialogue on Czechoslovak problems in January- April 1945, however, did not confirm these optimistic forecasts. Documents from the National Archives of the United States and a number of other sources made it possible to reconstruct the situation in Soviet-American relations with regard to the Czechoslovak Republic, to investigate Washington’s reaction to the refusal of the USSR to allow American diplomats to enter the Czechoslovak Republic, the attempts of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations to overcome Moscow’s objections and outline possible responses. In May 1945, a way out of the impasse was found.