740.00119 Control (Italy)/5–1545
No. 12
Memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State
Memorandum of Conversation
Subject: …; meeting of Big Three
| Participants: | Mr. Anthony Eden |
| Mr. Balfour | |
| Ambassador Harriman | |
| Mr. William Phillips | |
| Acting Secretary of State, Mr. Grew |
. . . . . . .
Reference was made to a recent communication from the President to Stalin [ Churchill ]2 with regard to the meeting of the Big Three and to the suggestion that Stalin might take the initiative in calling the Conference. Mr. Eden asked whether the President had any suggestion as to how Stalin might be induced to take the initiative. Mr. Harriman thought that this might readily be done by Clark Kerr if he should arrive in Moscow before him, Harriman, by turning the conversation in such a way as to reveal whether Stalin would in fact take the initiative. Discussion followed as to the best place for the meeting and it was decided that Berlin or Vienna, preferably the latter, would be the most suitable places. In any event the Soviets would insist that the meeting would take place in an area policed by the Soviet Army. Berlin and Vienna seemed suitable since by that time it was hoped that they would be under a tripartite military control. …
. . . . . . .
- For another extract from this memorandum of conversation, see Grew, Turbulent Era, vol. ii, p. 1481.↩
- Presumably document No. 2 or document No. 5.↩