Editorial Notes
Secretary of State Acheson, Foreign Secretary Morrison, and Foreign Minister Schuman and their advisers held a series of bilateral and trilateral meetings in Washington, September 10–14, to discuss a wide range of world problems. The progress and prospects of the negotiations at Paris at the Conference for the Organization of a European Defense Community were considered at the first meeting between Acheson and Morrison on September 10; at the small meeting between Acheson and Schuman on September 12; at the third tripartite [Page 883] meeting of the American, British, and French Foreign Ministers on September 12; and at the fourth tripartite meeting of the Foreign Ministers on September 13. In a declaration made public on September 14, the three Foreign Ministers reaffirmed their support for the establishment of a European Defense Community including Western Germany. In a meeting held in Ottawa on September 16, Secretary Acheson, Foreign Secretary Morrison, and Foreign Minister Schuman apprised the Belgian and Netherlands Foreign Ministers and the Luxembourg Prime Minister of their discussions in Washington and their views relative to the European Defense Community and the problems of regulating German participation in Western defense. For records of the meetings under reference here and the text of the declaration of September 14, see pages 1228, 1256, 1268, 1272, and 1306.
At its Seventh Session, held at Ottawa, September 15–20, the North Atlantic Council was informed of the discussions held in Washington by the American, British, and French Foreign Ministers relative to the European Defense Community. For documentation on this council session; see pages 616 ff.
Prime Minister De Gasperi of Italy and a party of advisers visited Washington on September 24 and 25 and held a series of conversations with Secretary of State Acheson and principal officers of the Department of State on aspects of American-Italian relations and related topics. At their first conversation on September 24, De Gasperi spoke briefly of the problems of organizing a European Defense Force, but he stressed Italian support for such a force. Acheson agreed with De Gasperi’s analysis and expressed his own belief that it would prove possible to solve the organizational problems and bring about such a force. For the record of this conversation, see volume IV.