740.00119 Control (Germany)/6–1149: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of State, at Paris

top secret
niact

Telac 77. Eyes Only for the Secretary. We assume from your Actel 591 that you have given your approval to NSC paper2 as now written and are not asking that NSC amend para 3d along lines of Telac 60.3 Request reply to reach Dept not later than early Monday morning, if possible, to meet appointment with President.

[Page 832]

Will inform NSC and President of two points covered your Actel 59 and intensify efforts to determine all feasible counter-measures.

Will attempt to obtain modification of NSC paper to make unmistakably clear your discretion re: warning to Soviets on imposition of blockade. Have in mind an additional sentence in para five reading approximately as follows: “It is considered however that the desirability of making such a declaration in connection with the present meeting of the CFM as well as its textual content and manner of presentation should be left to the discretion of the Secretary of State in the light of the situation as it develops at the current meeting of the CFM.”4

Webb
  1. Supra.
  2. Dated June 1, p. 820.
  3. June 6, p. 828.
  4. In Actel 62, June 12, from Paris, not printed, Secretary Acheson confirmed his approval of NSC 24/2, but stated that Webb’s proposed additional sentence would be desirable. (740.00119 Control (Germany)/6–1249)