Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Western Europe and Canada, Volume VI, Part 2

711 56352/5–2953

No. 898
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Merchant) to the Director of the Office of Western European Affairs (Byington)

secret

Washington, May 29, 1953.

The status of the Spanish negotiations was discussed this morning¹ at the Acting Secretary’s staff meeting upon the basis of my memorandum² on the subject to Mr. Phleger. I describe below the situation and the basis on which we may proceed as understood by me.

(1) The Administration has determined that legislative authority must be obtained to provide a framework within which the Base Agreement can be concluded in the form of an Executive Agreement.

(2) The Attorney General has drafted language designed to achieve this which could be handled either as separate legislation or incorporated in some bill now under consideration by the Congress. Representative Halleck and Senator Knowland respectively have agreed to sponsor such legislation in the House and the Senate in the form as finally determined.

(3) We are authorized to continue informal consultations with the Foreign Relations and Foreign Affairs Committees on the future progress of these negotiations as has been done in the past. It seems to me that we should promptly initiate further consultations for the particular purpose of acquainting the appropriate committees with the fact that an Executive Branch undertaking to seek future funds from the Congress is implicit in the proposed agreement.

(4) We can then proceed with the negotiations in Madrid with a view to putting the documents in acceptable final form provided that the Spaniards are clearly informed that this agreement cannot be concluded until the legislation deemed necessary by the Administration is on the statute books.

Meanwhile, please prepare the necessary telegram of instruction³ to the Ambassador in Madrid in the foregoing sense. It should go to Mr. Phleger and Mr. Morton for initialing and to the Acting Secretary for signature.

1. A record of this meeting is in Secretary’s Staff Meetings, lot 63 D 75, “Minutes—1953”.
2. Reference is to a memorandum by Merchant to Phleger, May 28. In it, Merchant expressed the fear that U. S. procrastination, wrongly imputed to the Spanish, would embarrass the Ambassador in Spain and lead to the failure of the negotiations, and urged that the Department of State begin moving quickly to ensure that it had the proper authority from Congress to conclude the agreements. (711.56352/5–2853)
3. The instructions were transmitted to Madrid in telegram 934, June 30. (711.56352/6–2053)