Office of the Historian

840.00/10–2948

Memorandum by the Ambassadors of Belgium (Silvercruys), France (Bonnet), Great Britain (Franks), and the Netherlands (Van Kleffens), and the Minister of Luxembourg (Le Gallais) to the Department of State 1

The Ambassadors of Belgium, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands, and the Minister of Luxembourg, acting on instructions from their Governments, have the honour to inform the Government of the United States that the Consultative Council of the Foreign Ministers of the five signatory powers of the Brussels Treaty, at their meeting in Paris on October 25th and 26th, 1948, agreed in principle to negotiate a North Atlantic Pact with the United States and Canada. The Consultative Council has taken note with keen interest of the report2 drawn up in Washington at the conclusion of the conversations which took place during the Summer. This report makes a first and valuable contribution to the study of the question. The Consultative Council proposes to draw on it for instructions to be sent within ten days to the Permanent Commission in London to enable the latter to draw up in its turn directives for the Heads of Missions in Washington. The Consultative Council feels that the Capital of the United States would in fact be the most suitable place for the negotiations which should produce the final text of the treaty. It will be for the United States Government to fix the opening date of these negotiations as soon as the five Governments have been able to send the necessary instructions to their representatives.

  • Oliver Franks
  • H[enri] Bonnet
  • [Robert] Silvercruys
  • Hugues Le Gallais
  • E. V. Van Kleffens
October 29, 1948.
  1. This memorandum was handed to Hickerson on October 29 by the French Counselor of Embassy, Jean Daridan, who stated that the Brussels Pact Chiefs of Mission in Ottawa were on the same day informing the Canadian Government in a similar sense. Hickerson said he was glad to note that the Brussels Pact countries had agreed in principle to negotiate a North Atlantic Pact, but he reminded Daridan that U.S. representatives in the Washington Exploratory Talks had not been, and were not now, in a position to commit the U.S. Government to such an agreement. He added that the next step must necessarily follow soundings with political and congressional leaders in both parties, and such soundings must in turn await detailed reports on the results of the Paris discussions and decisions of the Brussels Pact Foreign Ministers (memorandum of conversation, by Hickerson, October 29, 1948, not printed: 840.00/10–2948).↩
  2. Memorandum of September 9, 1948, p. 237.↩