Letter from Michael MacWhite to Frederick H. Boland (Dublin)

American diplomacy is very active in these parts at present. The Attorney General, Tom Clark, arrived in Rome Saturday evening and had a long audience with the Pope on Monday morning. He was to leave yesterday via the Brenner Pass but owing to unfavourable weather was delayed until today. His destination was probably Stuttgart where the Secretary of State, James Byrnes, was expected about the same time. From there he will continue to London where he is to spend a day before proceeding to Ireland where he is due on the 6th.

Yesterday, Admiral Mitscher, the Commander of the US Atlantic Fleet, with Vice Admiral Sherman, the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, arrived. About the same time, a 'plane from Ankara brought the son of the Turkish President and the Turkish Ambassador at Washington who is on the way to rejoin his post. All these high officials occupied adjoining rooms in the Grand Hotel from which one may conclude that they had confidential contacts. The newspapers just out state that the American, British and Turkish fleets are to carry out combined manoeuvres in the Aegean Sea in the near future.

I had a conversation with the Attorney General and found that while he was anxious enough to get information he was giving none. The Turkish Ambassador who is an old friend of mine tells me that the coming of the American Naval task force has given hope and strength to the people in the Middle East who are fighting against Russian penetration. A situation that was compromised last year by the rapid withdrawal of the American troops from Europe has now been redressed. Had America retired behind the folds of her isolationist cloak there would be nothing left for the Persians, the Austrians, the Turks, the Greeks and other peoples within the Russian zone but to effect a compromise with the Communists instead of opposing them. They know that Stalin has been bluffing but the shooting down of the American 'planes in Yugoslavia has shown him the extent to which he could carry it. It would now appear that he will have to change his tactics or put up with the consequences.

The rejection by the Security Council of our application for membership of the UNO provoked no comment whatsoever in the Italian press as this decision was anticipated. Besides, the Italian papers have so many problems of their own which absorb all their attention for the time being. The question of Trieste, of Briga and Tenda, the loss of the Colonial Empire, of the Italian fleet and above all the food riots in Milan, Turin and other centres and the seizure of unoccupied land in various districts by peasants and agricultural labourers. Taking all things into consideration, I believe we are better out of the UNO than in. As things are shaping out, it looks as if the world will be divided into two groups - Communist and anti-Communist; for there can be no United Nations Organisation as long as the right of veto exists and is exercised, not in the cause of peace and justice, but according to the political and ideological prejudices of one of the Big Powers. Had Tito rejected the American ultimatum the Security Council would have been called upon to act, but the Muscovites and their satellites would block any action on its part, in which eventuality America would have to act on her own initiative, together with those other countries that would stand by her. This would naturally mean the end of the UNO. A situation of this nature is not to be excluded within the next year or so.