Wednesday, 9 June

In the afternoon the Yugosliavian Ambassador, Simic, visited me. He has just been promoted as Ambassador and presented his credentials, so he had to visit the Diplomatic Corps once again. He thought Satō’s visit to Moscow did not have an important mission, and he also thought Davies’ visit to the Soviet Union did not have any political mission. The British Ambassador, Kerr, told Simic that one day before the arrival of Davies in Moscow, Ambassador Kerr talked to Stalin with regard to Davies’ visit. Stalin said that recently those who came from the United States were all messengers. From Willkie to the Mexican and Cuban Ministers and so on, there were already 7 of them. Stalin’s stance was not to pay too much attention to their visits.  American Ambassador Standley did not feel very happy about this and did not even want to mention Davies’s visit.

In the evening Counsellor Chen invited me to watch Carmen. The main female character M.P. Makasakova is a famous actress in the Soviet Union. Her singing and acting was the best in the opera. Though her voice was not very high, it was excellent. Although she is over fifty, her acting is really wonderful and she is the best I have seen since arriving in the Soviet Union. I met Borodin. His workload is heavier than before. He has a big belly and looks like a rich American businessman. I talked with him for a while, but I understood that he was unable to say too much, so we only touched on trivialities.