Disarmament Files, Lot 58 D 133
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. Howard Meyers of the Office of United Nations Political and Security Affairs
Subject: Working Papers Advancing Disarmament Proposals on the Basis of NSC 112.
Participants: Mr. C. A. Gerald Meade, Counselor, UK
Embassy
Miss Barbara Salt, First Secretary, UK Embassy
Mr. J. H. A.
Watson, First Secretary, UK Embassy
Mr. John D. Hickerson, UNA
Mr. B. G. Bechhoefer, UNP
Mr. Howard Meyers, UNP
Mr. Meade reported that he had just received a telegram from his Foreign Office stating that the Foreign Office had tentatively concurred in the United States working paper1 cabled there from Washington by Mr. Hohler following the UK–US conferences the week of October first; that the Foreign Office hoped to make favorable recommendations to the Cabinet Ministers early next week. London underscored the need to give the French at the earliest date US–UK detailed views on these disarmament proposals. The Foreign Office thought that an advance warning of the fact that detailed proposals would be forthcoming should be made to the French, and that it would be better for the United States to do this. The United Kingdom Ambassador in Paris might be instructed to cooperate with Ambassador Bruce in giving this advance warning, and London would ask his views in this respect.
Mr. Hickerson explained that we had cabled Ward Allen of EUR, who had taken to Paris a copy of the draft working paper on disarmament proposals, not to leave this paper with Ambassador Bruce pending further instructions from the Department. There were certain difficulties here which had to be resolved before any approaches could be made to the French, and the draft paper worked out with the [Page 543] British group might be subject to some amendments. He hoped that the UK would not instruct its Ambassador in Paris to give any advance warning to the French that we would present detailed disarmament proposals to them, until matters were more definite here in Washington.
Mr. Meade said that he would inform the Foreign Office immediately that the United States desired the United Kingdom Ambassador in Paris to hold off making any such approach, just as Ambassador Bruce would defer any action until further word. He remarked that, in regard to the matter of informing the French that there would be proposals forthcoming, the Foreign Office believed that the four older Commonwealths (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) should be informed that the United States and the United Kingdom were contemplating such action—this notice to be given at the same time the French received advance warning of the approach.
Mr. Hickerson said that the Department would consider this question of informing the four Commonwealth countries and communicate our views to the British Embassy as soon as possible. He read from the speech delivered by President Truman at Wake Forest College in North Carolina that afternoon,2 regarding the willingness of the United States to sit down and discuss armaments questions with Russians, and assured Mr. Meade and [that?] this was not the opening; move advancing the disarmament proposals discussed previously with the British. He emphasized that the speech had been written by people who did not know anything about the discussions which had taken place with the United Kingdom officials, and that he, himself, had not seen a copy of the speech until that morning, when it was too late to do anything in regard to changing the language of the speech.