EUR files, lot 59 D 233, “Letters—France, July–Dec. 1953”
No. 621
The Assistant Secretary of State for
European Affairs (Merchant) to the Ambassador in France (Dillon)
personal
Dear Doug: I am writing not just to share our worries concerning the everlasting delays in French ratification of EDC but to give you my own personal opinion that we are going to face an almost [Page 1393] unmanageable situation if by mid-January when Congress will have returned at least one of the French Parliamentary bodies has not ratified. I sense a growing public and Congressional exasperation over the delays in EDC coming into force and in particular with France for the major responsibility in this matter which is generally assigned to her. If the EDC is not clearly and demonstrably in the bag before March 1, by which date I think we can expect any foreign aid program to have gone up to Congress, I personally believe we will have reached the point of no return as far as continued aid to France is concerned.
I am writing this not in any belief that you are not keenly aware of the urgency of the situation. I know you are and I appreciate that you are working twenty-four hours a day to improve it and in a most effective fashion at that. However I did want to share with you my growing apprehension over developing public and Congressional attitudes.1
Sincerely,
- In his Nov. 5 reply to Merchant’s letter, Dillon noted that the French had the U.S. Congressional situation well in mind but that he and his staff would continue to remind them of it. (EUR files, lot 59 D 233, “Letters—France, July–Dec. 1953”)↩