George Kennan to Robert Lansing

Title

George Kennan to Robert Lansing

Creator

Kennan, George, 1845-1924

Identifier

WWP25131

Date

1918 August 18

Description

Advice on the situation in Siberia.

Source

Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Papers

Publisher

Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum

Subject

Soviet Union--History--Revolution, 1917-1921
World War, 1914-1918--Russia

Contributor

Morgan Willer

Relation

WWP25130

Language

English

Provenance

Document scan was taken from Library of Congress microfilm reel of the Wilson Papers. WWPL volunteers transcribed the text.

Text

“Broadwater”,

Baddeck, C.B., Nova Scotia

August 18, 1918.

Hon. Robert Lansing,

Secretary of State,

Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. Secretary:

You were good enough to ask me, once upon a time, to write you freely about international affairs - more particularly Russian affairs - and if I avail myself again of this permission, it is only because I desire to be helpful as far as I can. There are two or three considerations, connected with the expedition to eastern Siberia which seem to me important.

  1. The choice of a Chief Commissioner. The success of negotiations with the Russians will depend largely upon the knowledge, judgment and tact of the man selected to conduct them. I do not know, of course, what policy the President has decided upon; but, in any course of action, much must necessarily be left to the judgment and discretion of the man who heads the Commission. The Root Commission of last year did not influence the course of events in Russia in the slightest degree, partly because the people generally did not get into sympathy with it, and partly because the Commission itself did not understand what was going on around it. This was reported to me from Russia at the time, and it became sufficiently evident from the talk of Mr. Root when he returned. He did not seem to me to have grasped the significance of the events that he had witnessed, nor to have foreseen the results that the forces in operation would almost certainly bring about. Consequently, he was unduly hopeful and optimistic. Whether he could have influenced the course of events if he had regarded them rightly and had appreciated their significance, I do not know; but he seemed to me to have lacked the information or the judgment that he ought to have had. In an automobile, efficiency depends very largely, if not wholly, upon the mixture of air and gas in the carburetor, and in the Root carburetor the American air and the Russian gas did not mix at all - they did not even get into contact.

The head of the Commission to eastern Siberia will be in a position to exert far more power and control over the course of events than Mr. Root could exert, for the reason that he will be backed by force, and will bring economic and other assistance of which the Siberian population is in urgent need. It is doubly important, therefore, that he should be a big enough man for the job, and that he should have a cool head, sound judgment, and wide knowledge of men and affairs. He will not attempt, I presume, to exercise any political control over the Russians, nor to decide what form of government they shall have; but he cannot help exerting influence, and it is highly important that such influence should be wisely directed. Of all the men I can think of, Franklin K. Lane would be the best, if he were willing to go and if he could be spared for a few months from the Interior Department. He has a sympathetic comprehension, at least, of Socialistic ideals, and that would help him very much in dealing with a population in which there is a very considerable admixture of Social Revolutionists. At the same time, he is practical and level-headed, and knows what Socialism can and cannot do. He is also accustomed to deal with big affairs and to look at things in a broad way.

  1. The best equipped and most competent Head Commissioner, however, might fail, in a country unfamiliar to him and among a people whom he does not know, if he were not provided with facilities for getting full and accurate information. He should therefore have a small staff of expert and trustworthy Russians, who know the country and the people, and who can give him, or collect for him, the information necessary to the formation of a sound judgment on current events. These men could also act as intermediaries in his dealings with the local government and the people. He would wish, of course, to select these men himself; but if I were in his place, some of the men whose characters and capabilities I should consider are:
  1. Mr. Konovaloff, a minister in the cabinets of both Prince Lvoff and Kerensky, who is now living in Washington or New York.
  2. Mr. Novosseloff, President of the All-Russian Tanners’ Union, a concern which has about forty branches in European Russia and Siberia. (I sent you a copy of his brochure on the Bolsheviki).
  3. Baron S. A. Korff, of the Helsingfors University, who was Vice Governor General of Finland under the First Provisional Government.
  4. Dr. Nicholas Russel, of Nagasaki, Japan.

All of these men except Dr. Russel you have probably met, as they went to Washington in the early summer to offer information to our Government with regard to Russian affairs. All speak English well, with the possible exception of Konovaloff whom I have not personally met.

Dr. Russel is a Russian by birth and education, but he migrated to the United States as a political refugee many years ago, became a naturalized American citizen and settled in the Sandwich Islands, where he bought an estate. He was for some time a member of the Territorial Assembly of Hawaii and ultimately was elected its speaker. In 1908 he came to Japan to help me in carrying on a liberal campaign of enlightenment among the Russian prisoners of war. He soon acquired the full confidence of the Japanese Government, and was allowed by General Terauchi (then Minister of War) to distribute liberal literature and organize meetings in all the prison camps. He is a man of high culture, an author of some note, a most persuasive orator in both Russian and English, and has really extraordinary tact in dealing with all sorts of people. Since the Russo-Japanese war he has been practicing medicine in Nagasaki, and I presume he now speaks Japanese as well as Russian and English. I was closely associated with him for many months in Japan, and in my judgment he would be a most useful man, in many ways, to such a Commission as it is proposed to send to Siberia. Before coming to the United States he lived for some time in the Balkans, so that he has some acquaintance with the Czecho-Slovaks and other Slav nationalities in southeastern Europe. He is a man of attractive and sympathetic personality, and as a physician, a persuasive speaker, and a writer who is familiar with Russian psychology and conditions, he could be useful to the Commission in manifold ways. I do not know whether he would be willing to go to Siberia or not, as I have not heard from him directly since last year; but he is a patriotic Russian and a most ardent hater of the Germans. His address is No.9 Bund, Nagasaki, Japan.

I enclose on a separate sheet some suggestions for the winter equipment of the expeditionary force. This is not in your province, but you are the only Cabinet officer I know except Secretary Lane, and if my ideas seem to you worth consideration, you will know what to do with them. Inasmuch as I have spent four winters out of doors in eastern Siberia, I may fairly claim to know something about climatic conditions there. Perhaps our army quartermasters are equally well informed, but when I remember the deficiencies in the equipment of General Shafter’s army in Cuba in 1898, I don’t feel sure of it.

With sincere regard and esteem I am

Faithfully yours,

(Signed) GEORGE KENNAN

Original Format

Letter

To

Lansing, Robert, 1864-1928

Files

http://resources.presidentwilson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WWI1137A.pdf

Collection

Tags

Citation

Kennan, George, 1845-1924, “George Kennan to Robert Lansing,” 1918 August 18, WWP25131, World War I Letters, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.