Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Europe: Political and Economic Developments, Volume IV, Part 1

No. 272

665.001/5–451

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of Western European Affairs (Byington)

secret

[Washington,] May 4, 1951.

Subject: Italian Peace Treaty; Count Sforza’s Proposal for a Non-Aggression Pact

Participants:	Mr. Sensi, First Secretary, Italian Embassy
	Mr. Byington, WE

I told Mr. Sensi that a great deal of study had been given in the Department to Count Sforza’s letter to the Secretary proposing a non-aggression pact.¹ From the views that had been developing on this proposal and the tentative draft of a reply prepared so far, it appeared that the answer would have to be in the negative and, likewise, would have to contain the substantial reasons why such a proposal was inadvisable. I pointed out that a formal written reply officially communicated to the Italian Government might inevitably lead to publication and I questioned whether this would be in the interest of harmonious relations between Italy and the United States.

It seemed to me that one way of handling this question might be for the Embassy to ascertain informally whether it would not be the preference of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that no reply be made at all and the matter allowed to drop. If such were the case, the officials in the Department dealing with this subject would be in a position to recommend to the Secretary that he make no reply and to state that such action would be agreeable to the Embassy here in Washington, and seemed the wisest course to follow. I emphasized, particularly, that I was not making this approach under instructions from the Secretary and that any recommendations submitted to the Secretary might naturally not meet with his approval and he might feel that it was necessary for a reply to be made for the record. Mr. Sensi said that a negative reply would have a harmful effect on the forthcoming elections in Italy in the event that it should be made public, and he personally agreed that the best way to handle this matter would be to let it drop. He said that the Embassy would make appropriate inquiry of the Foreign Office to find out its views and he hoped that we could suspend action until receipt of their instructions from Rome.²

1. Document 267.
2. On May 7 Sensi informed Byington that Italian Ambassador Tarchiani agreed that the problem at the moment was to find a way out of the predicament and that Tarchiani preferred a method whereby Ambassador Dunn or Minister Thompson would approach the Italian Foreign Office along the lines presented in this conversation. (Memorandum of conversation, May 7, 665.001/5–751)