Roosevelt-Litvinov Agreements

A name used in the United States for the 1933 Agreement on establishing diplomatic relations between the United States and the USSR. The agreement, signed on November 16, 1933, was the culmination of a series of negotiations in Washington, D.C. between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Maxim Litvinov.  Its terms included the Soviets’ pledge to participate in negotiations to settle financial debts to the United States incurred by previous Soviet governments. The USSR also pledged not to interfere in American domestic affairs – in other words, not to aid the American Communist Party – and to honor the legal rights of Americans living in the Soviet Union. 1

  1. The Diplomatic Dictionary, Vol. III, Moscow: “NAUKA”, 1986, pp. 66-67.