396.1/2–252
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
Subject:
- Adenauer’s Presence at Proposed Meetings, Feb. 13 & 14.
Participants:
- M. Bonnet, Ambassador of France
- Mr. Acheson, Secretary of State
- Mr. Perkins, Assistant Secretary of State
The French Ambassador came at his request to say that he had had an urgent message from Paris concerning the possibility of Mr. Adenauer’s presence in London at the meetings proposed for February 13 and 14. M. Schuman and Mr. Eden, in their current discussions in Paris,1 had agreed that Mr. Adenauer’s presence in London would be inopportune and premature. There were important matters at Bonn which were not yet settled. These primarily affected the financial contribution of Germany to defense and the question of limitation of production of armament in Germany. If these were not settled by the High Commissioners with the German authorities, they [Page 18] felt there was no purpose in Mr. Adenauer’s attending the meetings and they saw no prospect of these items being settled by the date of the meeting.
I replied that I had said nothing about Mr. Adenauer attending the meeting in London. The meeting had been called by Mr. Eden, and it was in his capital. Any invitation to Mr. Adenauer would, of course, have to come from Mr. Eden. I agreed that Mr. Adenauer should not come if his coming would serve no useful purpose, but I felt quite strongly that the matters under discussion at Bonn should be settled and should be settled promptly. It was also essential to come to a conclusion on these matters if we were to make real progress at the Lisbon meeting.
In conclusion, I stressed that it was not my idea that Mr. Adenauer should be invited to London.
- Regarding the Eden–Schuman meetings under reference, see Eden’s message of Feb. 2 to Acheson, supra.↩