Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 100
No. 355
Memorandum by the Assistant
Secretary of State for European Affairs (Perkins) of a Meeting
of Secretary of State Acheson and Foreign Secretary Eden at the Department of
State, January 10, 19521
TCT CONV–4—Part III2
Present:
-
U.S.
- Secretary Acheson
- Mr. Matthews
- Mr. Perkins
-
U.K.
- Secretary Eden
- Lord Ismay
- Sir Roger Makins
- Sir Oliver Franks
Consultation with the Commonwealth
The question of consultation with the Commonwealth was brought up and briefly discussed.
Mr. Acheson explained that difficulty arose when the Commonwealth learned about some matter being discussed by the US and UK through the UK alone without hearing anything about it from the US. They felt that as sovereign nations they should be treated as such and should not be informed of our ideas through the UK. This did not make them mad at the UK but did make them mad at the US. It was pointed out that it was very important that the UK should inform the US when it felt that a matter being discussed between them was of such a nature that it had to be communicated to the Dominions so that the US could also get in touch with the Dominions at the same time. It was agreed that this was important and that the UK would inform the US when they felt that a matter needed to be transmitted to the Dominions.
There was some indication that perhaps this should be canvassed before all matters were discussed as there might be, in certain instances, subjects which the US wished to keep purely on a bilateral basis. If, in these cases, the UK felt it had to inform the Dominions, then the US should know this before the discussions started as it might affect the US willingness to hold the discussions. The British agreed if the US raised this point they would give us an answer.
- Drafted on Jan. 22. Presumably this conversation took place at the same meeting as the conversation on the Austrian Treaty described in TCT CONV–5, supra.↩
- For Parts I and II, see Documents 350 and 351.↩