Editorial Note
In anticipation of Secretary Acheson’s participation in the signing ceremonies at Bonn and Paris, a Steering Group had been established in the Department of State early in May to draft negotiating papers, statements, and proposals for use by the Secretary and his party in the expected round of conversations that would accompany the signing of the Contractual Relations and the EDC Treaty. In fact, the Group remained in being drafting papers through June 9 as it became entrusted not only with those topics which the Secretary anticipated before his departure but also those which required further thought or action as a result of his conversations in Europe in late May. In all, 53 papers were drafted, some of which superseded others. They were given the designation “SCEM D” with the subtitle “Signing Ceremonies in Europe”, and covered a broad range of topics including Tangier, Egypt, Indochina, the Secretary’s Statements at Bonn and Paris, the President’s Statement to the Senate of the United States (on EDC and Contractual Relations), EDC Guarantees, and EDC Protocol, etc. Although these papers are divided into six general subgroups (SCEM D–1 through SCEM D–6), there seems to have been no effort made to correlate subgroupings with topical divisions. A file of the SCEM D documents is in Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 109 and CF 110.
The Secretary took a small party with him to Europe including Ambassador at Large Philip Jessup, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs George Perkins, and Helen Kirkpatrick, Public Affairs Officer in the Bureau of European Affairs.
Prior to his departure, the Secretary had been advised by McCloy that Adenauer would wish to discuss a number of topics with him, including an Israeli financial settlement, the financial aspects of the proposed German defense contribution, general military and economic assistance to the Federal Republic, and a general exchange of views on United States foreign policy (telegram 2855 from Bonn, May 15: Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 108). Acheson arrived at Bonn on [Page 676] May 23 and met that afternoon with French Foreign Minister Schuman. Acheson then met with McCloy and his staff and General Mathewson and Cecil Lyon from Berlin for a briefing session. This meeting is summarized in telegram Actel 3, from Bonn, May 24, which was not declassified in time for publication.
On May 24, the Foreign Ministers of the United States, United Kingdom, and France held tripartite sessions at 2:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. devoted exclusively to contractual relations. Quadripartite meetings including Chancellor Adenauer were held at 4:45 p.m. on May 24 and at 10:30 a.m. on May 25. During the course of the first quadripartite meeting, the Chancellor stressed the “difficulties which would arise in Federal Republic and other West European countries if EDC treaty did not go promptly into effect” and he added that the Government of the Federal Republic intended to secure ratification by the Bundestag by the end of July. The second quadripartite meeting devoted some time to a discussion of the powers of the proposed EDC commissariat to intervene in logistical support matters prior to June 30, 1953. The tripartite meetings were reported on in telegrams 3049 and 3053 from Bonn, May 25. The quadripartite meetings were reported on in telegrams 3050 and 3062 from Bonn, May 25. For documentation on these meetings, see volume VII, chapter I.
Acheson also held separate talks with French and German officials on May 24 and 25. The Secretary paid a call on President Heuss at 6:45 p.m. on May 24. It was termed “brief and formal but characterized by an atmosphere of great cordiality.” A memorandum of conversation between Acheson and President Heuss is in Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 108. On the morning of May 25, Acheson and Chancellor Adenauer met to discuss problems relating to Israeli and Jewish claims. A summary of this meeting was transmitted to the Department in telegram 3059 from Bonn, May 25, printed in volume VII. On the evening of May 25, following a dinner given by Chancellor Adenauer, Acheson, McCloy, Jessup, Perkins, Reber, and Battle met with Hervé Alphand and Con D. W. O’Neill, Political Director to the British High Commissioner for Germany for further talks on the EDC. A copy of the memorandum of meeting is in Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 108. It was reported on in telegram 3065 from Bonn, May 26, summarized in footnote 3, page 682. Further quadripartite conversations took place on the morning of May 26 leading to those agreements about which Secretary Acheson informed President Truman in his message on May 26, page 680.
Following signature of the Bonn Agreements on May 26, Acheson and his party departed for Paris where on the evening of May 26 discussions were held with United Kingdom officials headed by Foreign Secretary Eden. Among the broad range of topics discussed were rubber, the Tripartite Declaration, the Saar, Israeli financial claims, the [Page 677] Soviet note of May 24, Spain, Trieste, Korea, and Tunis. On May 27, Acheson lunched with Schuman and met with various United States officials in Europe to discuss the Ambassadors’ meeting in London. On the morning of May 28, a tripartite meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the United States, United Kingdom, and France was held to discuss Indochina, the Soviet note, and Berlin and reparations. Later that morning Acheson met with Eden to discuss Trieste, Japan, and Korea before lunching with Italian Prime Minister De Gasperi. That afternoon, the Secretary met with French officials to discuss North Africa, economic aid, and “French attitudes re Communists”. Acheson also met briefly with President Auriol. The records of Acheson’s meetings in Paris are in minutes, designated SCEM MIN 1 through SCEM MIN 4, and telegrams (7346, 7387, 7397, 7398, 7404, 7405, 7407, 7408, 7432, and 7449) all of which are in Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 108.
The principals’ own recollections of the signing ceremonies in Europe and the discussions surrounding them may be found in Acheson, Present at the Creation, pages 643–650 and Eden, Full Circle, pages 46–47. Adenauer’s recollections place the signings in their broader context. See his Memoirs, pages 400–428.