Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, European Security and the German Question, Volume III, Part 1

News Division files

Memorandum of the Secretary of State’s Press and Radio News Conference, December 19, 1951¹

[Extract]

No. 31

[Washington, undated.]

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European Army

Secretary Acheson, when asked if it was his view that British participation was essential for the conclusion of the European Army scheme, replied that we had been talking about the scheme for exactly one year on the basis that the British were not going to be members of it, and therefore it had been accepted that that would not be essential. He went on to say that everybody had hoped that another decision might be reached and that we still hoped that if the scheme went forward the British might find ways of participating in some way and perhaps eventually of joining it.

When asked what reasons the British had advanced for their unwillingness to be unified and for their unwillingness to join fully in the Schuman Plan, Mr. Acheson answered that there were many reasons but he declined to be the spokesman on this matter.

Secretary Acheson was asked if he had any comment on Senator Green’s statement that he would remind the Administration that Britain was ineligible for foreign aid the way the bill² was written unless she did join the Strasbourg Plan and the European Army.³ Mr. Acheson replied that he did not know the provision the Senator was referring to. The correspondent explained that Senator Green had said that the British would have to have self-help and mutual aid and join in and that they were ineligible. The Secretary said he was not familiar with this.

When he was asked if he thought it was possible for Western European Continental political and military integration to take place without British participation, the Secretary replied that of course there would be British participation of some sort. He said he was sure that there would be a most sympathetic attitude on the part of the British toward this thing, adding that it would be very greatly helped by anything the British could do to move closer to it.

When asked if he felt this would be enough to allow the integration to come about, the Secretary replied in the affirmative.

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1. This memorandum was prepared by Michael J. McDermott, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Press Relations.
2. Presumably the reference here is to the Mutual Security Act of 1951, approved October 10, 1951.
3. Senator Theodore Green of Rhode island was one of 14 American Senators and Representatives who attended a joint session with European parliamentarians in Strasbourg, November 19–23. During the session, Senator Green criticized the United Kingdom’s reluctance to associate itself more closely with Europe. For materials on the joint session, see volume iv.