396.1 GE/6–754: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the United States Delegation1
priority
Tedul 169. I have your Dulte 157.2 I share the views there expressed, emphasizing however your remark that we should seek to avoid formal identification with open partition or the creation of two states where one now exists.
Referring to your Secto 3893 I feel that Heath has somewhat overstated the case, perhaps deliberately for morale reasons. Our military authorities do in fact take a rather gloomy view of military situation and the “explorations” designed to strengthen military and political position are pretty much at a standstill not by our election but because the French themselves have never yet really decided on whether they want the war to be “internationalized” on the conditions which long ago we laid down at Paris. Therefore Dupont’s advice to us to make up our mind “quickly” is rather irrelevant. We made up our mind sometime ago with the qualification however that we reserve the right to review the situation if by the time the French acted the situation had deteriorated beyond salvage. The latter seems to be happening.
I have long felt and still feel that the French are not treating our proposal seriously but toying with it just enough to use it as a talking point at Geneva.
- Drafted by the Secretary of State.↩
- Supra.↩
- See footnote 2, supra.↩