Editorial Note
The United States—United Kingdom discussions to review the financial provisions of the Bizonal Fusion Agreement of December 2, 1946, were held in Washington between October 8 and December 17, 1947. The United States Delegation was initially under the chairmanship of the Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas, Charles E. Saltzman, and subsequently Assistant Secretary of State Willard Thorp assumed the chairmanship. The United States Delegation included Ambassador Murphy, Under Secretary of the Army William H. Draper, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray, General Clay, and Frank A. Southard, Jr., Director of the Office of International Finance of the Treasury Department. The British Delegation under the chairmanship of Sir William Strang, Political Adviser to the Commander in Chief of British Forces of Occupation in Germany, included Sir Mark Turner, Principal Adviser on German Economic Affairs to the British Foreign Office, Sir Gordon Munro, Financial Minister at the British Embassy and Head of the United Kingdom Treasury Delegation in Washington, J. H. Penson, Advisor on German Economic Affairs at the British Embassy, Major General N. C. D. Brownjohn, Deputy Chief of Staff (Policy), Control Commission for Germany (British Element), D. L. Anderson, Vice President, Economic Subcommission, Control Commission for Germany (British Element), and Patrick H. Dean, Head, German Political Department, [Page 969] British Foreign Office. Discussions between the two delegations were intermittent rather than continuous. Formal plenary meetings were held on October 8, 11, 14, and December 17, 1947. Informal meetings were held on October 23, 24, November 1, 7, 14, 19, 20, 24, 28, 30, and December 9, 1947. On December 17, 1947, Acting Secretary of State Robert Lovett and Sir William Strang signed an agreement revising and extending the Bizonal Fusion Agreement of December 2, 1946; for the text of the new agreement and a general summary of the agreement issued to the press on December 17, see Germany 1947–1949, pages 453–460 or Department of State Bulletin, December 28, 1947, pages 1262–1267. Agreed records of the four formal plenary meetings (document designation CRF–M), the United States Delegation records of the informal meetings (document designation CRF/USDel–M), and conference documents (document designation CRF–D) are included in CFM Files, Lot M–88, Box 85. An incomplete set of these papers is also included in the Department’s Central Files under file 740.00119 Control (Germany)/10–1047.