No. 137
Editorial Note
From October 16 to 18, Secretary Dulles was in London for talks with British Foreign Secretary Eden and French Foreign Minister Bidault on a variety of matters of common interest. The three men discussed the Trieste issue at meetings held on October 16 and 18. At the latter meeting, Dulles accepted Eden’s suggestion that, in view of the unlikelihood that Italy and Yugoslavia would agree to a proposal for a five-power conference, the United States should send representatives from the Departments of State and Defense to London to consider urgently with the British Joint Chiefs of Staff possible arrangements for turning over civil administration of Zone A to Italy while maintaining United States–United Kingdom troops there, that this group should work in liaison with a United States–United Kingdom–French group in London which would be responsible for considering the political aspects of the Trieste issue, and [Page 320] that when the Trieste question came up for discussion at the United Nations on October 20, the three powers would press for postponement for at least a week. Dulles and Eden also discussed Trieste at a luncheon with Prime Minister Churchill on October 18, at which time Dulles emphasized the need for everyone concerned to consider the broader, strategic implications of the Trieste question. For documentation on these discussions, see volume VII, Part 1, pages 687 ff.