Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Germany and Austria, Volume VII, Part 2

663.001/12–552

No. 835
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State¹

confidential

Washington, December 5, 1952.

Participants:

• The Austrian Foreign Minister, Dr. Gruber
• The Secretary of State
• The Austrian Ambassador, Dr. Max Loewenthal
• EUR—Mr. Bonbright

The Austrian Foreign Minister came to see me this morning. The following subjects were touched on:

(1) Austrian item in the General Assembly. Dr. Gruber stated that it made little difference to him whether the discussion of this item took place in the Political Committee or the Ad Hoc Committee. In his view there were two factors of importance: (a) to have the discussion in the committee where they would get the most favorable votes and (b) to have the discussion in whichever committee would insure completion of the item by Christmas. He was under no illusions that discussion in the General Assembly would lead to conclusion of a peace treaty but he stressed the importance to Austrian morale of keeping his country’s case in the public eye.

(2) Future of Europe. Dr. Gruber asked me for any views on European developments in the next few months with particular reference to the attitude of the Soviet Union. I told him that I did not foresee any great changes. I said that if the EDC were to fail of ratification or if the Western powers showed signs of faltering in the pursuit of their aims, the Russians would doubtless endeavor to exploit such failures. On the other hand, if the EDC is ratified and we continue on our chosen path, we may in time expect the Russians to begin to adjust themselves to the situation.

(3) Austrian elections. I asked the Foreign Minister for his views on the outcome of the Austrian elections to be held on February 22. He did not seem to feel that there would be much change in the present composition of the parties although the parties of the coalition might well lose some votes to the Right and to the Left. This did not concern him unduly in view of the predominant position of the Peoples Party and the Socialist Party. The important thing in his view was that these two parties should maintain their present equilibrium vis-à-vis each other, since if the Socialists were to gain the upper hand, there would be a change of leadership or the Peoples Party might feel compelled to make alliances with other groups to the right in order to maintain their position. His own view seemed to be that the present equilibrium between the coalition parties would be maintained.

(4) Four-power meeting on Austria. The one specific point to which Dr. Gruber wanted us to give thought was a suggestion for a quadripartite Foreign Ministers meeting—or at least a top level meeting—on the Austrian problem within the next few months. He stated that he appreciated the fact that nothing could be done about this now with a new administration about to come into power in the US. However, he felt that such a meeting would have important benefits in Austria along the lines of his earlier remarks that for purposes of upholding Austrian morale their case should be constantly kept before the world. Not only was this useful in Austria but it had wider advantages since it was clear that the Russians heartily disliked having the spotlight on their position in Austria. Dr. Gruber expressed the hope that the State Department would give thought to his suggestion and be prepared to take it up with the new administration. I told him that I would speak to my colleagues in the Department about it and have the matter studied.

1. Drafted by Bonbright. In a memorandum to Secretary Acheson, dated Nov. 19, Perkins discussed the upcoming meeting with Gruber and forwarded a memorandum summarizing the issues which were expected to arise in this conversation. (Secretary’s Letters, lot 56 D 459, “A”)