Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Western Europe, Volume IV

840.20/2–1645

Memorandum by the Counselor of the Department of State (Bohlen) to the Secretary of State and the Under Secretary of State (Webb)

top secret

[Washington,] February 16, 1949.

Following a meeting with Mr. Rusk, Mr. Hickerson and Mr. Achilles, we came to the unanimous conclusion that the attached draft of Article 5 represents in substance the minimum commitment which could be embodied in this Article and achieve from the point of view of foreign policy the purposes of the North Atlantic Pact. While this does not mean that individual words might not be altered or rearranged, it does mean that any substantial reduction in the extent of commitment involved in the present draft would, in our opinion, materially and adversely affect the purposes of the regional arrangement and would run counter to the intent of the Senate as expressed in resolution S. 239¹ and the unanimous report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives on H.R. 6802 of the 80th Congress.

We anticipate that this will cause some difficulties, particularly with the French, but believe that in the last analysis it will be sufficiently acceptable to the other countries involved so as not to impair the chief purposes of the pact.

In order to proceed in an orderly fashion to deal with the difficulties with which we are faced in regard to the Senate on the one hand and the European countries on the other, we recommend the following course of action to you and the Secretary:

1. That the attached draft of Article 5 be regarded, in so far as the State Department is concerned, as the minimum commitment to achieve the objectives we have been pursuing.

2. That I be authorized, in a private and informal manner, to discuss it with Sir Oliver Franks in order to ascertain his personal opinion as to the probable effect of this new draft on the other countries involved in the discussions. I would, of course, explain to the British Ambassador that I was seeking his judgment before the question was discussed by the Secretary with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

3. That if Sir Oliver believes that this draft would not seriously impair the objectives of the pact and would therefore be generally acceptable to the other countries, the President and the Secretary should see Senator Connally alone in an endeavor to enlist his support for the draft. We feel it advisable to attempt to obtain his cooperation before involving other Democratic leaders.

4. That Senator Connally should be consulted as to whether the President should meet with the Democratic leaders to make clear that this is administration policy before or after the Secretary appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Friday afternoon.

5. That after the interview with Connally, Vandenberg be informed of the text of the new draft.

A clean text of the entire treaty is being prepared and will be ready this afternoon. Article 5 is the only sticking point in the text with the exception of the problem of the inclusion of Algeria as a part of Metropolitan France for the purposes of the treaty.

[Enclosure]

D

article 5 (mutual assistance)

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all; and consequently that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will take, forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, the measures it deems necessary to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.

1. Senate Resolution 239, June 11, 1948, Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. iii, p. 135.