857D.20/2–949
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
| Participants: | The Secretary |
| Mr. Henrik de Kauffmann, Danish Ambassador | |
| Mr. Benjamin M. Hulley, Chief, NOE |
The Ambassador came at his request on the instruction of his Government to inform me of the outcome of the recent Scandinavian defense talks which he attended. He reminded me that at dinner last night we had covered a great deal of the ground including our interest in Greenland. He said that the three countries felt that the best solution for them, and possibly also for the countries of the West, was a Scandinavian Defense Pact. In all three there was a strong reluctance to depart from traditional Scandinavian unity. There was now in Washington a Danish naval captain, who had represented Denmark in the talks, who is prepared to inform us of the Scandinavian military discussions at our convenience. He had just heard that in my press conference today I was asked about this subject and replied that we had an open mind on it, and he hoped this was true.
I confirmed that I had said that we have an open mind on the question and are ready to give careful attention to anything which the three countries want to say to us about it. At the same time, we do have views, as our minds are not a vacuum on the subject, but we had not prejudged it. In regard to his naval expert, I would be glad to have talks arranged so that he could explain the situation to us.
I asked whether the Scandinavian Pact was conditioned on neutrality of all its members. He said that it was, but he considered it slanted toward the West. The obligation each country undertook referred only to the home territory of each and did not cover outlying positions such as Greenland and Spitsbergen.
He asked what he could telegraph to his Government about this talk. We agreed that it should suffice if he said that he had discussed the subject with me as instructed, had learned that we would be glad to consider anything the Danish Government wanted to put before us, and he might ask whether they wanted him to say anything further.