[ITALY] Augusto Rosso (1885-1964) Italian statesman; doplomat. He was a delegate to meetingsof Council and Assembly of the League of Nations [1927-1932]; including Reparations Conference, The Hague [1929], Naval Conference in London [1930]. He was Ambassador to the United States [from 1932]. In November 1940 Stalin sent Molotov to Berlin to meet von to meet von Ribbentrop and Adolf Hitler. In January 1941, the British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden visited Turkey in an attempt to get the Turks to enter the war on the Allies' side. Though the purpose of Eden's visit was anti-German rather than anti-Soviet, Molotov assumed otherwise and in a series of conversations with the Italian Ambassador Augusto Rosso, Molotov claimed that the Soviet Union would soon be faced with an Anglo-Turkish invasion of the Crimea. The British historian D.C. Watt argued that on the basis of Molotov's statements to Rosso, it would appear that in early 1941, Stalin and Molotov viewed Britain rather than Germany as the principal threat. Signed Riggs National Bank check, 1912. Excellent clear signature. VG.

VG