Editorial Note
In the days immediately preceding Secretary Acheson’s visit to London, the British initiated a proposal for the holding of tripartite “official level talks” in London in advance of the meetings of the Foreign Ministers. By February 11 the British and French had reached agreement on arrangements for a French mission to be present in London. American authorities were reluctant to hold such preliminary meetings feeling that they would serve no useful purpose. Eventually the Department of State agreed that a decision on such “official level talks” would be settled on the afternoon of February 14 following the arrival of members of the American party with Secretary Acheson. No records, however, have been found of such preliminary talks. Records of the meetings of the Secretary of State printed here do indicate that members of the three delegations did confer apart from the meetings of the Foreign Ministers. Documentation on the proposed “official level talks” is included in the file 396.1 LO.
A special series of briefing papers designated GER–LON was prepared in the Department of State in advance of the meetings of the Foreign Ministers in London. The seven papers, all completed between February 6 and 8, were prepared in the Bureau of German [Page 36] Affairs, were all approved by Bureau Director Byroade, and were generally cleared with other appropriate officers of the Department. The titles of the seven papers, none of which are printed, are as follows:
- 1.
- Disposition of German War Criminals
- 2.
- Saar (Negotiating Paper)
- 3.
- Saar (Background Paper)
- 4.
- German-NATO Relationship
- 5.
- German Financial Contribution
- 6.
- Military Equipment for German Forces
- 7.
- Security Safeguards re Western Germany
A complete set of these briefing papers is included in the Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 103.