740.5/8–2150: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Embassy in the United Kingdom 1
955. Personal for Douglas, McCloy and Bruce from the Secretary. I have followed with great interest the cables from each of you on subj of establishment of a European Defense Force since receipt of McCloy’s 962 and have been impressed by the unanimity of opinion betw you on fundamental steps required to bolster the situation in Eur. I find myself in complete agreement with general thesis as advanced betw you and believe that the concept you advance will be accepted by this Govt. We have taken the preliminary steps to secure interdepartmental agreement here and later decision in principle by the President. Subsequently we will probably wish high level approach to Brit and Fr Govts. You will be kept informed of developments here and of any possible further contributions you can make. The thinking of each of you has been of great value in aiding us to come to grips with what now seems to be one of the most urgent and basic problems in Europe.
- Repeated to Frankfort and Paris as telegrams 1416 and 885, respectively.↩