Eisenhower Library, Eisenhower papers, Whitman file
No. 205
Memorandum of Discussion at the
201st Meeting of the National Security Council, Washington,
June 9, 19541
eyes only
There were present at the 201st Meeting of the Council the President of the United States, presiding; the Vice President of the United States; the Secretary of State; the Secretary of Defense; the Director, Foreign Operations Administration; and the Director, Office of Defense Mobilization. Also present were Mr. Tuttle for the Secretary of the Treasury; the Attorney General (for Items 1 and 2); the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce (for [Page 450] Item 1); the Director, Bureau of the Budget; the Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission (for Items 2, 3, 6 and 7); the Acting Federal Civil Defense Administrator (for Items 2 and 3); Assistant Attorney General Barnes (for Item 1); the Secretary of the Army; Under Secretary of Commerce Murray (for Item 1); Assistant Secretary of the Interior Wormser (for Item 1); the Under Secretary of the Navy; Robert Amory, Jr., Central Intelligence Agency; the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Director of Central Intelligence; the Assistant to the President; Robert Cutler, Special Assistant to the President; the Deputy Assistant to the President; the White House Staff Secretary; the NSC Representative on Internal Security; the Executive Secretary, NSC; and the Deputy Executive Secretary, NSC.
Following is a summary of the discussion at the meeting and the main points taken.
[Here follows discussion of a national petroleum program, organizational arrangements for continental defense, a proposal for an international moratorium on future tests of nuclear weapons, significant world developments affecting United States security, and United States policy toward Spain.]
6. United States Policy Toward Yugoslavia (Progress Report, dated May 25, 1954, by the Operations Coordinating Board on NSC 5406/12)
Mr. Cutler commented on the Progress Report with particular attention to the final paragraph, which was concerned with the development of the Balkan entente (Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia) into a full military alliance and the relation of this alliance to Italy and the Trieste problem.
Secretary Dulles thought that the Council might be interested in recent developments regarding the Trieste negotiations. He recalled the decision of October 8, 1953, by which the U.S. and the U.K. proposed a partition.3 He pointed out that this decision had initially been hailed with enthusiasm in Italy, with the result that the Yugoslavs felt that they must oppose it. There had ensued long negotiations with the Yugoslavs in London. These negotiations had just been concluded, and the result substantially confirmed the October 8 decision, with certain minor territorial adjustments in each zone. Although, said Secretary Dulles, the Yugoslavs had carried [Page 451] on these negotiations with the greatest deliberation, they had made a real effort to reach a viable solution. The Italians, however, have not made up their minds whether to regard the new solution as a triumph or a disaster. The whole problem was tied up with Italian domestic politics. If the Italians will not agree to go along, said Secretary Dulles, it will be most disheartening, because it is a very fair solution.
The President inquired whether we could not convince Scelba that he must agree to take this solution. The difficulty, replied Secretary Dulles, was that Premier Scelba only managed to keep his bare majority in Parliament by playing up Italian nationalism.… The President then asked whether a very strong message from himself or from the Secretary of State would help with Scelba. Mr. Allen Dulles added the suggestion of enlisting the support of De Gasperi and Don Sturzo in bringing pressure on Scelba. Secretary Dulles commented that Scelba had proved a most grievous disappointment when the Secretary had talked with him after the Berlin Conference.4
The National Security Council:
- (a)
- Noted the reference Progress Report on the subject by the Operations Coordinating Board.
- (b)
- Discussed the situation with respect to Trieste in the light of an oral report by the Secretary of State.
[Here follow a discussion of the situation in Southeast Asia and a brief noting of the report on the status of National Security Council projects as of June 1, 1954.]
- Prepared by Gleason on June 10.↩
- For text of NSC 5406/1, “United States Policy Toward Yugoslavia,” see Document 690. The OCB Progress Report on NSC 5406/1 is not printed. (OCB files, lot 62 D 430, “Yugoslavia”)↩
- For text of the announcement on Oct. 8, 1953, by the United Kingdom and the United States of their intention to transfer administration of Zone A to Italy, see Document 130.↩
- Presumably a reference to Dulles’ conversation with Scelba in Milan on May 3 following the Secretary’s attendance at the Geneva Conference; see Document 189.↩