No. 26

740.5 9–1751

Memorandum by Herbert W. Hill of the Office of European Affairs to the Director of the Office of European Regional Affairs ( Martin ) 1
secret

Subject: Council of Europe Invitation.

The two subcommittees of Senate and House met with M. Spaak and Lord Layton.2 The agreed on agenda was to hold “a discussion on the Union of Europe, its progress, problems, prospects and place in the western world”. The meeting is to be at Strasbourg, November 19, to last 4 to 6 days.

The agenda was made brief in order to avoid the controversial, to confine the discussion if possible to the areas of agreement, and on the part of several in Congress to push European integration as much as they could.

The subcommittees were to report the results to their committees. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee did hear the report today and reached no decision, unfortunately. Senators Connally and George opposed the resolution as entangling the U.S. Senator [Page 60] Green followed along. Senators Lodge, McMahon and Fulbright favored acceptance. Action was put off till a meeting later this week.

This information is reliable but is off the record. I think that the Department ought to push this more than it has done so far, and that some missionary work on Senator Green is in order. We have gone too far to back out now, and so has Congress.3

  1. Copy to Miriam Camp.
  2. The background to this meeting is discussed in Document 11.
  3. A handwritten notation at the bottom of the source text reads: “Ben Brown tells me they are working on something along this line.” On October 18, the House of Representatives agreed to Senate Resolution 36 proposing a meeting between a Congressional delegation and a similar group from the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe. The Senate agreed to Resolution 36 the following day. (Congressional Record, vol. 97, pp. 13477, 13500)