Editorial Note
Secretary of State Acheson, British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, and French Minister for Foreign Affairs Robert Schuman and their advisers held a series of meetings on world problems at London, May 11–13, 1950. American, British, and French representatives met in London in late April and early May for a series of meetings in preparation for the meetings of the Foreign Ministers. The attitude and policies of the Soviet Union were touched upon in nearly all of the major questions considered in the preparatory meetings of American, British, and French representatives and later in the formal tripartite meetings of the Foreign Ministers, but some of the meetings were directed most specifically to the question of a general attitude toward the Soviet Union and the possibility of negotiations with Soviet authorities.
At a meeting of American and British representatives on April 25 (reported upon in telegram Secto 14, April 25, from London), Ambassador at Large Philip C. Jessup, a principal officer of the United States Delegation to the preparatory conversations with the British and the French, summarized the American position on the question of negotiations with the Soviet Union along the lines set forth in document FM D B–21b, April 20, page 1154. The British representatives indicated that they shared the American view that negotiations in the near future with the Soviet Union were very undesirable and explained that there was no particular pressure from British public opinion for such a meeting.
At a meeting of American, British, and French representatives on April 26 (reported upon in telegram Secto 23, April 27, from London), Ambassador Jessup again summarized the main points of document FM D B–21b. The French representative expressed broad agreement with the American view but emphasized that the door not be closed to negotiations with the Soviet Union. The British representative indicated that public opinion in the United Kingdom [Page 1193] would view with alarm any negotiations with the Soviet Union which resulted in a propaganda defeat for the West. At this same trilateral meeting, Charles E. Bohlen, Counselor of the Embassy in France and a principal officer in the United States Delegation at the London talks, summarized document FM D A–8, April 14, a paper prepared by the Policy Planning Staff which reviewed the overall power position of the Soviet bloc and the West and also the strengths and vulnerabilities of particular countries and areas.
In a conference document designated MIN/TRI/P/4, May 9, the American, British, and French representatives to the London preparatory meetings reached an agreed position with respect to negotiations with the Soviet Union. It was agreed that there was no prospect that such negotiations would currently lead to any general settlement and that the right course for the West was to continue to build up situations of strength. It was nevertheless further agreed that the door should not be closed and that the Three Powers should be prepared to examine the situation again, if for any reason it should appear that such negotiations would be of advantage to the West. It was also agreed that none of the Three Powers would negotiate with the Soviet Union on matters of common interest unless the other two agreed on the need for such a step and participated in the negotiations.
At their first formal tripartite session in London on May 11 (reported upon in telegram Secto 230, May 11, from London), Secretary of State Acheson, Foreign Secretary Bevin, and Foreign Minister Schuman approved document MIN/TRI/P/4 following a brief discussion of the difficulties of negotiating with the Soviet Union.
Unless otherwise indicated, the texts of messages and documents cited above are included in the documentation on the meetings of the Foreign Ministers of the United States, United Kingdom, and France, volume III, pages 828 ff.