although they were promised equitable use of such facilities to present their views and although they are subjected to constant attack by the Bloc parties through this medium.

(3) The rights assured in January to print, publish and distribute their political publications is still greatly restricted in the case of parties outside the Bloc by direct and indirect means.

(4) Participating parties outside the governmental electoral Bloc continue to encounter major impediments and violent opposition to the right which was assured them to organize associations, hold meetings, and be allowed premises for this purpose.

Mindful of its undertakings under the Yalta, Potsdam, and Moscow Conference agreements, the Government of the United States takes this occasion, in anticipation of the announced elections, to recall the assurances communicated to it by the written declaration of the Council of Ministers and by the oral statement of the President of the Council, which formed a basis for recognition of the Rumanian Government by the Government of the United States.

(d) Statement by the Department of State, November 26, 19461

At the Crimea conference in 1945 the Governments of the United States, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the United Kingdom agreed jointly to assist the people of liberated Europe with a view to the earliest possible establishment through free elections of governments responsive to the will of those people. Subsequently. pursuant to agreement reached at Moscow in December 1945 between the same powers, representatives of the three Governments met in Rumania and obtained assurances from the Rumanian Government that the latter would hold free and unfettered elections as soon as possible on the basis of universal and secret ballot.

The Rumanian Government held elections on November 19, 1946. The Department of State has now received extensive reports concerning the conduct of those elections, and the information contained therein makes it abundantly clear that, as a result of manipulations of the electoral registers, the procedures followed in conducting the balloting and the counting of votes, as well as by intimidation through terrorism of large democratic elements of the electorate, the franchise was on that occasion effectively denied to important sections of the population. Consequently, the United States Government cannot regard those elections as a compliance by the Rumanian Government with the assurances it gave the United States, United Kingdom, and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Governments in implementation of the Moscow decision.

276. SUPPRESSION OF CIVIL LIBERTIES IN RUMANIA (a) Note From United States to Rumanian Foreign Minister, June 24, 1947 2

I have been instructed to convey to you my Government's serious concern over the drastic deprivation of civil liberties to which the

1 Department of State Bulletin of December 8, 1946, pp. 1057-1058.

2 Department of State Bulletin of July 6, 1947, p. 38.

Rumanian people are being subjected, by or with the acquiescence of the Rumanian authorities, in particular the arbitrary arrest without warrant or charge of hundreds of Opposition Party and non-party persons and the indefinite detention of such individuals in prisons and concentration camps under reportedly deplorable conditions.

While the communiqué of May 6, 1947 issued by the Rumanian Minister of Interior suggests that the Rumanian Government proposes to justify these measures as necessary to the preservation of internal order in the face of provocative or subversive activities, they seem rather to represent a deliberate effort at the suppression or terroristic intimidation of democratic elements of the Rumanian population who oppose the present regime.

My Government is following closely these developments which appear to contravene formal and informal assurances given by officials of the Rumanian Government on several occasions to Representatives of the United States with reference to specific public liberties as well as professions of the Rumanian Government's adherence to principles of freedom and justice. Moreover, such evident deprivation of the most elemental human rights and fundamental freedoms is in conflict with Article Three of the Peace Treaty which the Rumanian Government has signed and whose terms will obligate the Rumanian Government to secure to all persons under Rumanian jurisdiction the enjoyment of such rights and freedoms. My Government is deeply concerned that the fulfillment of these treaty provisions not be prejudiced by actions anticipating the coming-intoforce of treaty which effectively nullify the Rumanian Government's undertakings with respect thereto.

My Government considers that the obligations of Article Three of the Peace Treaty are unequivocal and that the rights therein assured to the Rumanian people cannot be denied or modified by domestic legislation or judicial process.

EXCERPT FROM RUMANIAN TREATY

ARTICLE 3. 1. Rumania shall take all measures necessary to secure to all persons under Rumanian jurisdiction, without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion, the enjoyment of human rights and of the fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, of press and publication, of religious worship, of political opinion and of public meeting.

2. Rumania further undertakes that the laws in force in Rumania shall not, either in their content or in their application, discriminate or entail any discrimination between persons of Rumanian nationality on the ground of their race, sex, language or religion, whether in reference to their persons, property, business, professional or financial interests, status, political or civil rights or any other matter.

(b) Communication From the United States to Rumanian Government, August 5, 1947 1

1

On instructions from my Government, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of July 12, 1947, rejecting the representations transmitted to you in my note of June 24, 1947

Department of State Bulletin of August 17, 1947, p. 329.

concerning arbitrary actions, in the guise of measures of public security, being perpetrated in Rumania contrary to explicit undertakings of the Rumanian Government in regard to the assurance of basic human rights to the Rumanian people.

The United States Government rejects the interpretation of the Rumanian Government concerning the rights of the United States under the Treaty of Peace and the charge that the United States note transmitted to you on June 24, 1947 constitutes unwarranted intervention in Rumanian internal affairs.

The United States Government has taken due note of the attitude displayed by the Rumanian Government in this connection and of subsequent developments in Rumania involving the arrest of additional prominent opposition leaders. The United States Government has also taken note of the fact that this same Rumanian Government professes its ability and willingness to fulfill its international obligations and to assure its people the free exercise of fundamental freedoms.

277. NON-IMPLICATION OF AMERICANS IN CONSPIRACY AGAINST RUMANIAN GOVERNMENT

Note From United States Minister to Rumania to Rumanian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, November 14, 1947 1

I have been directed by my Government to communicate to you the following:

It has come to the attention of the United States Government that the indictment of the leaders of the National Peasant Party of Rumania recently tried includes charges that former representatives of the United States in Rumania or American members of their missions were implicated in an alleged conspiracy to overthrow the Rumanian Government by force and violence. The Government of the United States has taken note of these accusations, not only as to their substance but also as to their character and as to the manner in which they have been put forward, which in itself affords eloquent commentary on their political motivation and insincerity.

The United States Government deems it unnecessary and inappropriate to dignify by specific refutation charges presented in this fashion which falsely insinuate that the Government of the United States through its representatives has advocated or lent support to a contemplated attempt at overturning the Rumanian Government by force.

By virtue of United States participation in the agreements of Yalta, Potsdam and Moscow and in the exercise of United States prerogatives as an Armistice Power, American representatives, for legitimate purposes, have maintained associations with representatives of all significant political elements in Rumania. Such associations have been known to all and have properly been questioned by none.

The United States has never condoned the unrepresentative character of the present Rumanian Government nor the methods by which it attained and has perpetuated its authority. The views and efforts of the United States, in conformity with its responsibilities to assist Rumania in obtaining a broadly representative Government responsive to the will of its people, are a matter of public record. So also are the

1 Department of State Bulletin of November 30, 1947, p. 1057.

views of the United States Government concerning the denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms to large segments of the Rumanian population in contravention of international commitments made by the Rumanian Government.

The Rumanian people as well as free people everywhere will know how to assess the kind of implications directed against the Government of the United States which have been brought forward in this devious fashion.

278. VIOLATIONS OF TREATY OF PEACE BY RUMANIA Letter From the United States Minister to Rumania to Rumanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, February 2, 1948 1 The United States, pursuant to the principles for which it stands, in consequence of its undertakings at Yalta with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom, and by virtue of its joint responsibilities with these Powers as a member of the Rumanian Armistice Commission, has striven constantly since the withdrawal of Rumania from the war against the Allies to assist the Rumanian people in obtaining a broadly representative and responsive Government which would secure for them their basic rights and fundamental freedoms.

The United States together with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and United Kingdom agreed at the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers in December 1945 to assist in a broadening of the Rumanian Government and in obtaining guarantees of such civil liberties. In January 1946, in compliance with the Moscow Agreement, representatives of the National Peasant and National Liberal Parties were included in the Rumanian Government. The Rumanian Council of Ministers thereupon made a solemn written declaration that free general elections would be held in the shortest possible time, on the basis of universal suffrage and secret ballot, in which all democratic and anti-Fascist parties would have a right to participate and to present candidates. Likewise, the declaration of the Rumanian Government pledged that freedom of the press, speech, religion and assembly would be assured. In an oral amplification of this declaration, the President of the Rumanian Council of Ministers, Petru Groza, made explicit the application of these assurances to all the parties represented in the reorganized Government, thereby acknowledging the National Peasant Party headed by Mr. Iuliu Maniu, the National Liberal Party led by Mr. Constantin Bratianu, and the Social Democratic Party under the direction of Mr. Constantin Petrescu as democratic and anti-Fascist.

The Rumanian Premier also gave explicit assurances that these parties would be entitled (1) to participate in the elections and to put forward candidates, (2) to have representatives present for the examination of the balloting procedure and the counting of the ballots, (3) to be accorded equitable broadcasting facilities for the presentation of their political views, (4) to have equal opportunity to print and distribute their own newspapers and political publications and to obtain newsprint on a fair and equitable basis, (5) to organize associ

'Department of State Bulletin of February 15, 1948, pp. 216-218.

ations, to hold meetings and to be allowed premises for this purpose, and (6) to be consulted by the Council of Ministers in order to reach agreement concerning the assured freedoms of press and speech as well as on the drafting of an electoral law and on the conduct of the elections.

However, notwithstanding the categorical nature of these international commitments the Rumanian Government undertook virtually at once to subvert them, and throughout 1946 steadily violated their spirit and letter. All manner of chicanery, and extreme physical violence was employed by or with the consent of the Rumanian Government to reduce the legitimate political activity of any elements not subservient to the controlling minority. Every one of the assurances given was either ignored or sabotaged. The representatives of the Peasant and Liberal Parties were effectively excluded from decisions of the Government and from any real voice in the preparation of the elections. Broadcasting facilities were wholly denied to all but the minority Government bloc. Through the inequitable distribution of newsprint, the denial of freedom to print, publish and distribute and by various other artifices and official censorship, the legitimate oppositon press was relegated to a point of virtual extinction. Party meetings of the opposition were prevented by violence. Government officials, employing compulsion and forgery, wrested the control of the Social Democratic Party from the majority of its members.

During nine months which preceded the general elections, numerous eligible candidates were disbarred from participation and large sections of the rightful electorate were disenfranchised. The balloting in the election was accompanied by intimidation, by preventing voters from reaching the polls, by multiple voting, by denying legitimate opposition representatives their assured right to be present at the counting, and by distortion of the final returns.

The concern of the United States Government over violations of the explicit assurances of civil and political liberties, which had been given by the Rumanian Government in an international commitment, was called to that Government's attention in notes of May 27, June 14, October 28, and November 15, 1946. To these representations, the Rumanian Government failed to make satisfactory reply. Following the elections on November 19, 1946, the United States Government declared that, in view of the evident abuses which had effectively denied the franchise to important sections of the Rumanian population, it could not regard those elections as a compliance by the Rumanian Government with the assurances it gave to the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in implementation of the Moscow Decision.

In February 1947, the Rumanian Government signed a Treaty of Peace with representatives of the Allied and Associated Powers which, under Article 3, obligated Rumania to take all measures necessary to secure to all persons under Rumanian jurisdiction the enjoyment of human rights and of the fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, of press and publication, of religious worship, of political opinion and of public meeting.

Despite this development, in the spring and summer following its signature of this Treaty, the Rumanian Government, through its