600.0031 World Program/134: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:13 p.m.]
777. I had a conversation with Van Zeeland today just before his departure for America.11 He said that he did not intend to present to the President any preconceived proposals whatever. He wished to hear what the President had in mind before he made any proposals. If he should find the President interested in a particular line of thought, he had in his mind a number of schemes for the development of any possible proposal.
I replied that I advised him to treat the President not as an European Chief of State with whom he would have to be cautious [Page 678] but as a man with whom he could be absolutely frank and to whom he could reveal in confidence every possible thought or speculation that he might have in his mind. After some discussion Van Zeeland said that he would take my advice and talk without reserve.
I asked him what especially he would have to propose. He said that from the inquiries that he and Frère,12 his assistant, had made in all the countries of Europe he had come to the conclusion that the moment was extraordinarily favorable for reconciliation. He believed that even Germany would be glad to work out a peaceful solution of the present situation. He had not received in any country in Europe any concrete proposals but he had received the definite impression that there was no country in Europe that would refuse to cooperate in the economic reconstruction of the world.