110.11 AC/6–2852

The Secretary of State to the President 1

secret

Dear Mr. President: As we prepare to leave on a series of one-night stands I want to give you a few thoughts and views of the series of meetings and events here in London.

[Page 1547]

The meetings with Mr. Eden and Mike [M.?] Schuman have been useful, unspectacular and not very exciting. In the tripartite talks we have discussed Southeast Asia and Indochina, Berlin, the ratification of the German and EDC agreement and the proposed reply to the recent Russian note. You will have received by now a telegram I sent you regarding the agreement on this note as well as the text of the note which we telegraphed back to Washington immediately following the last tripartite meeting yesterday.2 I think you will be satisfied with the note as drafted and it is within the lines of your instructions to me. The talks on Southeast Asia and Indochina with Mr. Eden and Mike [M.?] Schuman resulted in some progress. I think that both the French and British agree on the necessity for political guidance to the military authorities of the three countries before these authorities go further with their talks on possible steps we can take in that area of the world. Paul Nitze and Frank Nash will be meeting here and again in Paris with the British and French in the hope of getting some preliminary assumptions agreed to and of laying the way for further discussions.

I have talked to Mr. Eden privately about many subjects. The most important of them are Iran and Egypt, of which we will have a further meeting this morning just before departing for Berlin. The approach of the British to these problems has changed very little. I will also be seeing Mike [M.?] Schuman today for our first and only meeting alone together. I do not know what he wishes to discuss but I am told he does not intend to bring up Tunisia or Morocco.

On the lighter side, I have been whisked from dinners to speeches, to receptions and in and out of caps and gowns at an astounding rate. The award of degrees at Oxford was extremely interesting and I look forward to telling you about it.

I have also been admitted to Lincoln’s Inn which was an equally pleasant experience. My talk and response to questions before the inter-parliamentary groups went very well. There were some tricky shots fired during the question period, but I managed to dodge them or let the bullets glance off me and escaped without serious bloodshed. I gather that the troubles in Washington based on erroneous press reports have been cleared up.

From here on out my trip will be a series of speeches, public appearances and related activities. I will send you reports from time to time when I have any thing significant to report.

Respectfully,

Dean Acheson
  1. The source text was transmitted in Actel 2, June 28, from London. According to a handwritten notation on the source text, a copy of the message was sent to the White House on June 28.
  2. Documentation on the reply to the Soviet note of May 24 is presented in volume vii .