Umansky protested about a speech by Johnson,

Louis Arthur Johnson, assistant secretary of war, 1937–40.

the assistant secretary of war, that was offensive towards the Red Army, and further pointed out that the United States was discriminating against Soviet trade under the guise of a ‘moral embargo’.

Hull justified the unfriendly actions against the USSR in terms of US national interests and said that the paths of the USA and the USSR had diverged. Hull behaved correctly. He let it be understood that the United States was not planning to expand its anti-Soviet measures. The question of Finland was not touched upon.

And today there was a noteworthy incident in the US Congress: one of the congressmen tabled an unexpected motion – to remove from the State Department budget the expenses involved in running the American embassy in Moscow. Although the Administration protested against the proposal, it was rejected by a mere three votes (108 to 105).