Office of the Historian

Conference files, lot 60 D 627, CF 398

No. 680
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Merchant)

top secret
Washington, November 20, 1954.
  • Subject: NATO “New Approach”1

Participants:

  • Premier Mendès-France
  • Ambassador Bonnet
  • The Secretary
  • Mr. Merchant

The French Premier referred to the “new approach” studies of NATO and said that they had been discussed at length in the French National Defense Council which had agreed to the proposals as put forward by General Gruenther and the Standing Group. He said, however, that the subject matter was too serious to be left exclusively in military hands. Political decisions of the highest level would be required in an emergency. He then referred to an arrangement during the war whereby all great military questions were decided personally between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill. He felt that similar arrangements, but including France, should be established to deal with questions of this nature in the event of war or its imminent threat. In other words, what was needed was a high level political Standing Group. He went on to say that he was not making a formal proposal at the moment but wanted to notify us that we would be receiving a proposal in the near future along these lines.

There was then some discussion of the NATO alert system and its broader application, Mendès-France was quite firm that France should participate with the UK and the U.S. in all great decisions.

Mendès-France then mentioned briefly to the Secretary the fact that he hoped we could promptly close the current negotiations being conducted by Mr. James Wilson of the Defense Department in Paris concerning matters arising from the presence of the U.S. forces in France. He mentioned specifically housing and claims and the fact that agreements had already been concluded on similar matters with the British and the Canadians. The fact that ours had been prolonged is a source of some irritation. He said he hoped we would try to push them to a conclusion. The Secretary indicated that he would ask Defense to accelerate as much as possible the arrival at an agreement.

  1. For documentation on NATO and the “New Approach”, see vol. v, Part 1, pp. 482 ff.↩