740.00119 Control (Germany)/11–2145
The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of War (Patterson)
My Dear Mr. Secretary: In reply to your letter of November 21, 1945, 1 am now in a position to give you additional information respecting the French proposals on the Rhineland–Ruhr regions.
A series of meetings with the French delegation, lead by Mr. Couve de Murville, were held during the period from November 13 to 20, 1945. In the course of these conversations the French representatives developed their views and replied to a number of questions put to them by officials of this Department. At the end of the meeting, a joint report was prepared, a copy of which I take pleasure in sending you with this letter.85 You will observe from the report that no definite statement of the American attitude on these proposals was given to Mr. Couve de Murville while he was here.
It is readily apparent from the report that the French proposals would involve a reexamination of the Potsdam Declaration and its possible amendment. This Government could obviously not agree to any unilateral action on its part which would change the Potsdam Agreement. This point of view was made clear to the French delegation and well understood by them.
By agreement in the Council of Foreign Ministers in London, the French Government was to be given the opportunity of presenting its views in London, Washington and Moscow. The proposals have been presented in London and Washington, but I believe that the discussions in Moscow have not been completed. The Department of State does not desire to express a definite opinion on this question until the French Government has completed its conversations and until the American Government has had an opportunity to discuss the [Page 920] matter with the other signatories to the Potsdam Agreement. Therefore, I cannot at this time give a categorical answer to paragraph 3 of your letter of November 21.
With respect to the establishment of central administrative agencies in Germany, I believe that the War Department has already authorized the American representative on the Control Council to carry out the Potsdam decision with or without the participation of the French.87 The French delegation was informed in the course of conversations in Washington that this Government was obligated to implement these decisions and was not disposed to change its position.
I think, therefore, that the American representative on the Control Council should be instructed again to urge the adoption of the Potsdam decisions on the establishment of central administrative agencies as soon as the French conversations in Moscow have been completed.
Sincerely yours,