665.001/8–1351
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of Western European Affairs (Byington)
Subject: Revision of the Italian Peace Treaty
| Participants: | Mr. Luciolli, Chargé d’ Affaires, Italian Embassy |
| Mr. Byington, WE |
Mr. Luciolli showed me copies of the reports made to the Foreign Office by the Italian Ambassador in London and the Italian Ambassador in Paris concerning conversations which they have had with Mr. Morrison and Mr. Schuman regarding the proposed revision of the Italian Peace Treaty. It seems that the matter has been gone into extensively by both governments with the Italian Ambassadors and both governments have urged upon the Italians that the best course to follow at the present time is a tripartite declaration with a second phase leading to revision of the Peace Treaty. An outline of a tripartite declaration was given to the Italians in the same form as the French proposal to us.1 The British took the same line. Prime Minister De Gasperi, in replying to a request for instructions from Ambassador Quaroni indicated that the Italian Government urgently needed some immediate action in regard to the Treaty and that a declaration would be acceptable under certain conditions. Mr. Luciolli explained that if a declaration is all that can be obtained the need of the government for haste is so great as to have them welcome it providing there is some assurance that substantive revision will be considered as a second phase.
Mr. Luciolli pointed out that in this connection, the United States was the only government which had not expressed any views to the Italian Government and had merely suggested they wait for the outcome of the talks with the British and French. It might be noted also that Ambassador Quaroni reported to the Foreign Office that Mr. Schuman had said that there may be difficulty in obtaining consent of the United States because of our preoccupation over the attitude of Yugoslavia.
Mr. Luciolli reiterated his personal opinion that it would be a mistake to limit the present action to merely that of a declaration, but observed that the matter seemed to have gotten out of hand. He urged that we inform the Italian Government what our views [Page 644] in this matter are since they desperately need to know what we have in mind if they are going to be able to decide what to reply in the face of both the British and French governments advocacy of limiting immediate action to a declaration.
- Regarding the French proposal under reference here, see the memorandum of conversation by Williamson, Document 290.↩