Editorial Note
During the evening of December 30, Secretary Dulles issued the following statement:
“The news from France is good. The French Assembly voted to ratify the treaties which will carry into effect the accords reached last October in London and Paris. The vote indicates that of all the parties only the Communist bloc of about 100 deputies voted mechanically against all constructive measures. In the other parties there were differences, but they were differences of opinion as to how best to proceed to achieve Western European unity under conditions which would assure increased strength to protect national and individual freedom. It is understandable that these differences should have existed. The issues were both complicated and momentous. Now that the French Assembly has spoken, we can justifiably hope that the remaining ratification procedures in France and elsewhere will soon be concluded.
“A special tribute is due to those in France who saw that patriotism required the burying of age-old hostilities. That this could happen is a good augury for the years ahead.” (Press release 737; Department of State Bulletin, January 10, 1955, page 43)
President Eisenhower also issued a statement on December 30 which reads as follows:
“The recent series of actions taken by the French Assembly is a matter of great gratification, not only to the United States but to the entire free world.
“There are, of course, further steps to be taken, both in France and elsewhere, before a satisfactory foundation for Western defense has been achieved. But of particular importance is the fact that the French Deputies, after initial hesitations against bringing Germany into Western defense arrangements, have now voted to ratify the new treaties signed at Paris last October.
“The French action is all the more significant since it follows the vote on ratification taken last week by the Italian Assembly, which approved Western defense plans by a decisive majority.
“Once sovereignty is restored to the Federal Republic, with German participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, there will be added defensive strength and general solidarity in Western Europe. As decisive cooperation supplants age-old antagonisms, the prospects for a general and lasting peace will be definitely improved, and a measure [Page 1542] of encouragement may therefore even now be felt by all who are earnestly striving to maintain and improve the unity and harmony of the free world.” (White House press release; Department of State Bulletin, January 17, 1955, page 80)