Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation, lot 64 D 199
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State1
Memorandum of Conversation With the French Ambassador, Henri Bonnet
I called on Ambassador Bonnet at his residence, he being indisposed. We spoke of my speech the night before2 which he commended. I said I assumed that the parallel with Korea had been noted by him and he said that it had. I said that this was as far as I thought it wise to go publicly in indicating what had on many previous occasions been made clear, namely that the United States was prepared to sit down and talk with the French about what the French called “internationalizing” the war and working out a real partnership basis. I said that as far as the immediate present was concerned, I assumed that the French Government would still not want this. However, they might change their mind after the full harshness of probable Communist terms was revealed. Then this might seem to them an alternative worth exploring. I wanted the French to know that such explorations would be acceptable to the United States.
- The text of this memorandum was transmitted to the U.S. Delegation at the Geneva Conference as telegram Tedul 46, May 9; for text, see vol. xvi, p. 742.↩
- See footnote 5, p. 1496.↩