740.5/7–2551: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the United States Deputy Representative on the North Atlantic Council ( Spofford ), at London 1
niact
Todep 51. London for Achilles. From Perkins and Cabot. We are discussing with Secy tomorrow afternoon, Thurs, draft msg which fols and are anxious get your reactions as to whether or not you think procedure proposed below satis:
“There are three principal problems which need to be discussed and settled by Council of NATO. These are:
- (a)
- Ger mil contribution.
- (b)
- Admission of Greece and Turkey to NATO.
- (c)
- MTDP gap.
“To resolve (a) above, it will be neces to have mtg of three Mins of Occ Powers to agree on acceptable plan for Ger participation in def. This will also involve working out neces polit arrangements with Ger. It will also be neces after such agreement has been reached to submit appropriate aspects of proposed plan to other NATO members with sufficient time for them to give adequate consideration before there can be final action by Council on those matters of concern to NATO.
“On (b) above, it will be neces bring sufficient pressure on countries now not willing to support admission of Greece and Turkey into NATO. Council action does not require any previous formal NATO action other than present Dep discussions.
“(c) above probably involves laying on table at Council mtg various factors in connection with gap and, fol discussion thereof, an attempt to secure agreement as to course of action to be followed by NATO and individual countries to insure adequate def in time. This requires consideration of gen issues involved, preferably by Council, and Council instructions for preparation of recommended course of action by appropriate subordinate NATO bodies.
“With these factors in mind, it has seemed to us that perhaps fol sched of mtgs shld be agreed upon: There shld be mtg of three FonMins on Sept 12 or at latest on 13, preferably in Wash. There shld be mtg of NATO Council in Ottawa on Sept 17. If neces or desirable, there cld be further mtg of three FonMins after Ottawa mtg. (In this connection it might well be desirable to associate Adenauer with three FonMins discussions in hopes of reaching agreement with him at that time.) Finally, there wld be NATO Council mtg in Eur, probably Rome, last of Oct or first of Nov.
“What we have in mind in this sched is fol: We wld hope that at tripartite mtg in Wash three Mins cld agree on scheme for Ger mil contribution neces polit arrangements. In any event, in all probability they cld reach agreement on most of important issues involved in these questions even though there were details left to be worked out later. [Page 624] Whatever results, three FonMins wld report and explain results of their study of Ger problem in accordance with Brussels resolution2 to mtg of Council in Canada on Sept 17 even if final agreement had not been reached in Wash. No final action cld probably be expected on this matter at Ottawa mtg as it wld be neces for other Govts represented there to submit conclusions from Wash to their Govts (unless rapid progress on mil proposals requiring NATO approval shld permit Govts to consider them adequately in advance).
“At Ottawa mtg also we wld hope that definitive action cld be taken on admission of Greece and Turkey into NATO, and that start at least cld be made with problem of gap.
“Mtg scheduled in Eur for end Oct or first Nov shld be able to complete any neces action on Ger contribution and wld continue discussion of gap problem and such problems as were left over from Sept mtg.
“It is our feeling that sched such as this avoids difficulty which we encountered in New York last fall when we sprang significant proposal on Council without prior notice and that by announcing publicly that further mtg wld be held in Eur end of Oct we wld avoid at least in large part difficulty of having mtg on subjs which wld not reach final conclusion.
“US is ready to agree to this sched. We urge you put this up to other NATO countries at earliest opportunity. Canada has informed us that if they do not know by Aug 1 at latest, they will be unable arrange mtg in Canada in mid-Sept, therefore immed action is required. We will telegraph you later suggestions as to what form announcements might take to secure as favorable publicity as possible.”
Foregoing has not been discussed with Def. We wld appreciate telephone call giving us your views.3 [Perkins and Cabot.]
- Drafted by George W. Perkins, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, and cleared with Cabot of S/ISA, Bonbright of EUR, Calhoun of GPA, Martin of RA, and Dorsz of GTI; repeated for action to Paris for Bruce, Byroade, and MacArthur and to Frankfurt for McCloy.↩
- The Brussels resolution, also referred to as the Brussels agreement or decision, is presumably NATO Council Document C6-D/1 of December 13, 1950, a joint report by the NATO Military Committee and the NATO Council Deputies on the subject of German participation in the defense of Western Europe. For text, see D–D/196 (Final) and D/MC–D/2 in Foreign Relations, 1950, vol. iii, pp. 531–547, and, in particular, p. 538, footnote 1.↩
- Memoranda of telephone conversations were not found in Department of State files.↩