Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, Western Europe, Volume III

840.00/3–548

Memorandum by the Secretary of State to President Truman

top secret

[Washington,] March 12, 1948.

Subject: French and British Requests for Consultation on Measures to Check Extension of Communism

You will recall the message¹ from Foreign Minister Bidault which I discussed with you on March 5. After expounding at length the menace which the rapid expansion of the area of Communist dictatorship involved for France and the other free countries of Europe and stressing the urgency of agreed measures to prevent its further extension, his letter concluded with the proposal that the French, British and United States Governments enter into political consultations and examine without delay the technical questions involved in meeting the danger.

Mr. Bevin has also privately suggested² to Ambassador Douglas the desirability of political and military consultations between representatives of those three Governments and of Benelux and Italy.

I believe that at least an indication of our willingness to consult on means of stopping further extension of Communist dictatorship in Europe is necessary to stiffen morale in the free countries of Europe, particularly France and Italy. The outcome of the present Anglo-French-Benelux security talks in Brussels should indicate the extent to which the participating governments are prepared to go in mutual defense and should provide a starting point for our consultations with them.

If you approve, I propose to send the attached reply to Bidault and to send Bevin a message in the same sense.³

G. C. Marshall

1. Letter dated March 4 not printed, but see editorial note, p. 38.
2. See telegram 755, p. 32, for report on conversation of February 25.
3. Marshall presumably discussed this draft with the President during a private conversation following a cabinet meeting on the morning of March 12, and it was apparently at that time that the President approved it with omission of the last eight words of the sentence: “It might be wise to have a Benelux representative and perhaps Count Sforza included in the conversations.” For text of reply to Bidault, see infra. At the same private conversation, Marshall informed the President of the March 11 British aide-mémoire. Reference to the conversation appears in a memorandum by Marshall to Lovett dated March 12, not printed: 840.00/3–1248.