 The purpose of the speech and associated US diplomatic activities was as propaganda aimed at Germany by the Western Powers, who could then blame Polish-German border and German expulsions on Moscow alone.The territory had been handed over to Polish and Soviet administration at the Potsdam conference, the border was to be determined at the peace conference (which did not take place until 1990, and ratified what had been in place since 1945), but with the area experiencing the flight and expulsion of Germans in 1944–50 it in the "de facto" became Polish and Soviet territory.The Polish government responded to the speech with loud rhetoric, with claims that the US was supporting remnants of the Hitler regime and officially claimed that the border set at Potsdam was final.