Evening star., 1933-11-23
PACT IS EXPLAINED
|NFORUM ADDRESS
RIGHTS of Americans in Rus.
sia StudiousIy Ascertained,
Speaker Says.

When Maxim LltVlnOu arrived III
Washington. ne believed, like the rest
of the Soviet government, that President
Roosevelt, following the precedent set
by the other nations which have grant,
ed the Soviets recognition, would also
recognize Russia first and discuss the
outstanding problems atterWard
The President, however made it clear
to the Russian delegate that he had his
own formula, which consisted in reach
ing an agreement first and recognizing
the Soviet government afterward On
this principle the President was
adamant.
This was revealed by Assistant Secre-
tary of State r. Walton Moore last
night in a speech delivered on the Ma
tional Radio Forum, arranged by The
Washington Star and broadcast over a
Nationwide network Of the National
BroadcaSting Co.
Important in History.
Mr.. Moore's address follows:
few minutes before midnight last
Thursday the President accorded rec
ognition to the Soviet government of
Russia. That will hereafter be looked
back upon as one of the most historic
of White House events. 1t brought to
an end the long period of something
more than $50 years in which at the
outset recognition was refused our Gov
ernment, and toward the close of which
we refused to recognize the government
of Russia. With that event a new era
begins in such manner as to justify
high hopes and expectations.
There is now proposed brief discus
sion of the transactions that followed
the correspondence between President
Roosevelt and the president of the Cen
tro E,yacr,+iuo of he or
Union in the latter part of October,
preceded by some allusion to the older
situation.
In 1780 the Continental Congress
sought Russian recognition and ap-
pointed Francis Dana as Minister. He
was not received, and after spending
two years in st. Petersburg returned
disappointed and disguised. While the
Russian vice chancellor assigned various
reasons for the attitude of his govern
ment. it is known that back of all was
the extreme dislike of the Empress
Catherine of the representative popu-
lar system that had been set up in this
country She could not tolerate the
thought of approving the American
Revolution or the principles expressed
in the Declaration of independence. al
though it may be noted in passing that
in a short time she appointed John
Paul Jones, one of the heroes of the
Revolution, admiral of her fleet in the
Black Sea, then in freqeunt conflict
with the Turkish fleet
Old Theory Disappears.
The theory of refusal to recognize
any government because of hostility to
its internal political institutions faded
out with the development Of interna-
tional law and precedents, and in 1909,
when Alexander the First was on the
Russian throne. the relations between
the two countries became normal. and
John Quincy Adams, appointed by Pres
1dent Madison, became the first Ameri-
can Minister to st. Petersburg The
relations thus established were main
tanned from 1909 to 1917. They were of
an unusually friendly character, and at
one very important juncture the atti-
tude of Russia toward the United States
was far more sympathetic than that of
most of the other great powers. Pre-
clSely as We for a long time unsuccess-
fully applied for recognition by Russia,
SO since 1917, when the Soviet govern
ment was organized, it has until now
unSuccessfully applied for recognition
by the United States. 1t had mani
tested a strong desire for this action
and this desire had been shared by
those Americans who have believed that
normal relations might be restored on
such terms as to avoid any sacrifice of
the rights CT our Government or the
rights of its nationals travelling or re-
siding in Soviet territory
Undoubtedly the theory controlling
the Empress Catherine has influenced
the opinions of many of our people
But that has never been the theory of
our Government. AS early as 1773,
under the direction of the Continental
Congress, we negotiated a treaty with
France, notwithstanding the fact that
French political institutions were wholly
different from those which were being
advocated here. and throughout our
history no such diversity has served