Office of the Historian

740.00/7–1050: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Embassy in the United Kingdom 1

secret
Washington, August 8, 1950—6 p. m.

702. Embtel 181, July 10.2 Dept notes and considers appropriate Council of Europe decision Aug 3 that admission Aust membership presently premature. We are not inclined however, attempt strongly influence Aust Govt action this matter since Aust must live with consequences membership and in best position weigh pros and cons results. Believe principal gains not material but rather psychological in direction unity with West which already secured by membership OEEC and well known to all. On other hand adverse consequences not in Western hands and so not calculable but conceivably cld outweigh benefits. Consider important that if and when Aust and Council shld deem membership advisable no move shld be taken unless sure consummation wld be prompt.

Acheson
  1. Message drafted on August 4, 1950 by Edmund C. Rowan of the Office of Western European Affairs. In a covering memorandum dated August 7, 1950, and signed by Francis T. Williamson, Deputy Director of the Office of Western European Affairs; Theodore Achilles, Director of the Planning Staff, Bureau of European Affairs; and Homer Byington, Director of the Office of Western European Affairs, respectively, it was pointed out that “FM D B–6a of May 5, 1950 [not printed] states, ‘… Austria should be encouraged to seek admission to the Council of Europe and take part in its various activities’. Since the foregoing [Embtel 181 from the United Kingdom, p. 775] makes no reference to timing and because at present the disadvantages of Austria’s becoming an associate member of the Council may outweigh the advantages, it is recommended that the attached telegram [702] be sent.” The message was sent to Paris as 711, to Vienna as 218, to Moscow as 106, to Frankfort as 1047. A copy of FM D B–6a may be found in CFM Files, Lot M–88, Box 149, FM D B–Series. Lot M–88 is a consolidated master collection of the records of the conferences of Heads of State and Foreign Ministers meetings for the years 1943–1955 prepared by the Department of State Records Service Center.↩
  2. Ante, p. 775.↩