Wednesday, 12 January

 Heavy snow, fine

1. Secretary Chen reported to me that he met the New York Times reporter, Filmal. According to him, the full text of Willkie’s article which was published in the New York Times was cabled to the Soviet Union for review six days ago. It was totally beyond Filmal’s expectation that the Soviet Union would suddenly be so nasty about it. Filmal’s personal opinion was that he thought Ambassador Harriman belonged to the New Deal clique of capitalists, his political ideas are different from Willkie, and privately they do not get on very well. Therefore he thought that Wilkie’s article, that the Soviet Union had criticised, was probably dictated by Ambassador Harriman. I do not believe this is the case. Firstly, because Harriman is not the type of person to use this type of way to square his private grudges. Secondly, according to the content of Willkie’s article, it touched on the issues of the three Baltic Sea states and the Polish border, and the tone is of one urging the Soviet Union through the use of American force. It is only very natural that the Soviet Union could not stand for it. Thirdly, the Soviet Union certainly would not write anything as Harriman dictated. Probably, the newspaper which Filmal represented had a deep relationship with Willkie, so made this type of comment to defend him. This is meaningless. I really suspect the moral standards of the American reporters. Filmal also said that the New York Times would soon dispatch its representative to London, because it is estimated that the second war zone will be opened in March or April. I also heard that the year before last Filmal was in love with a Soviet lady (I heard that she was a ballerina.) in Moscow, but he was married in the United States and has two children. Earlier last year he was back in the United States from Moscow and he heard that the Soviet Government had sent his lover to another place and would not allow her to stay in Moscow. Filmal was very anxious. He divorced his American wife and asked Willke to cable Stalin, saying Filmal was young with aspiration and in love with a Soviet lady, and he wanted to marry her, so Willkie hoped that Mr. Stalin would help with the matter. After receiving the telegram, Stalin immediately permitted the said lady to return to Moscow. Several months ago, Filmal was back and he married her immediately. This story is widely known here. Perhaps because of this Filmal is partial to Willkie, and it is therefore natural, that he should not slander Ambassador Harriman. Also, several months ago the Soviet Government had already adopted a more lenient attitude towards Soviet girls associating with foreigners. Therefore the young people dispatched by British and American armies, governments and newspapers no longer view this with fear. But recently I also heard that the Soviet Union has changed this policy and Soviet Union ladies dare not be close to foreigners for fear they might be sent to the outer provinces.

2. The First-Class Secretary of the Swedish Embassy, Hagglof, now has two plain-clothes bodyguards. He used to wear his underwear to go jogging for half an hour in the streets as exercise, and his two plain-clothes bodyguards had to follow him. Everyone in the streets thought this very strange, and it was a strenuous mission for the two of them. The British military Commissioner, General Martel, also has plain-clothes bodyguards. Yesterday he suddenly wanted to go skating. He left his quarters before his plain-clothes bodyguards realised, and so they were very anxious. They called intelligence headquarters and asked them to send a skating expert and then took a car to follow him in a hurry. They were all laughing stocks.

3. Yesterday, Roosevelt reported to Congress about world cooperation at the conferences in Moscow, Cairo, and Tehran, and proposed five ways to strengthen War of Resistance efforts in the United States. Under his leadership, perhaps the United States could change its old orthodoxy. Britain woke up because it encountered hardship, and is gradually moving towards Socialism. But the United States did not experience such pain, so reform will be more difficult. Roosevelt’s job leading the country is not easy and his achievements are marvellous. (For example, those newly-arrived American reporters always criticised the pro-Soviet and Left-leaning stances of Britain and Canada. This is enough to say that the power of American Conservatives is substantial.)