740.5/8–151
Memorandum by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs ( Bonbright ) to the Secretary of State
Subject: NAT Council Meeting
Just before leaving for the Pentagon Mr. Perkins had a telephone call from Mr. Achilles in London who reported that the Council meeting for mid-September is “on”.
It was agreed that the meeting would deal only with the question of Greece and Turkey plus financial and economic problems. The Deputies will work on the specific agenda when they reconvene after the middle of August.
It was agreed that the meeting would be open to attendance by three Ministers from each country, while leaving it to each Government to decide who and how many they would send.
The Canadian Deputy, Mr. Wilgress, told Mr. Achilles that Foreign Minister Pearson believes we will not have too much trouble getting Greece and Turkey in, following his discussion with the Scandinavians.
Mr. Achilles reported that the British Deputy, Mr. Hoyer Millar, had talked with the British military and believes that progress is being made in swinging the British towards our position. (I take this to mean that they will not insist on prior firm decisions on command structure prior to voting on the admission of Greece and Turkey.) Hoyer Millar reminded Mr. Achilles, however, that the UK were not the only ones concerned and felt that we should be ready to give some indication at least of our thinking.
We will presumably obtain amplification of the above by telegram in the course of the afternoon.1
- In telegram Depto 147 from London, August 1, Achilles reported on the discussion during the Council of Deputies’ meeting of August 1 and explained the positions of the various countries concerning the question of time and place for the next meeting of the Council (740.5/8–151).↩