164. Telegram From the Secretary of State to the Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany1
2797. Action Chiefs of Mission.
Part I.
FYI. 1. Department concerned movement for supranational atomic Community has appeared lose some steam in recent weeks, for variety of reasons, including delay completion of Spaak report [Page 421] and recognition of reality basic problems such as weapons production and ownership or lease as an element in effective and acceptable control program. Moreover publicity given to announcement of President’s allocation of U–235,2 growing European anxiety over possible implications of US bilateral program, discussion of atomic energy cooperation at OEEC Ministerial Meeting in February and negotiations for creation of International Agency have been interpreted or used in some quarters in Europe as indicating shift of focus in European atomic field away from Six-country supranational framework.
2. You are authorized approach Foreign Ministers to clarify in confidence US purposes in interim bilateral program. Extent of present negotiations outlined in Part II this telegram.3 You are also authorized give assurances continued deep US interest in efforts Messina group to achieve integrated atomic community. Approach should be in following terms: End FYI.
3. Present bilateral negotiations, initiative for which coming from Europeans, are designed only to meet immediate requirements on case by case country basis and are limited to existing capabilities of individual countries.
4. It is Department–AEC view that US Government could make available substantially greater resources and adopt attitude of substantially greater liberality towards real integrated community possessing effective common responsibility and authority than would be possible for countries separately.
5. Meanwhile US hopes bilateral program will contribute European technological developments in field peaceful uses of atomic energy which would advance and not impede integrated arrangements among countries which together can achieve maximum progress and security in this field. Our hopes this regard reflected in proposed language for French bilateral (to be included any other bilaterals with the Six) which specifically envisages Atomic Energy Community as inheriting advantages and obligations of agreement with French.4
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 840.1901/3–3056. Confidential; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Barnett; cleared with Smith, Merchant, and Strauss; approved by Dulles. Also sent to Brussels, The Hague, Paris, Luxembourg, and Rome, and repeated for information to London; passed to USRO and the CSC Mission. The position outlined in this telegram was recommended to Dulles in a memorandum of March 29 from Merchant and Smith. (Ibid., 840.1901/3–2956)↩
- On February 22 President Eisenhower announced that the United States would make substantial quantities of uranium 235 available for either sale or lease under conditions prescribed by the U.S. Government. For text of the President’s statement, see Department of State Bulletin, March 19, 1956, pp. 269–270.↩
- Part II of this telegram, not printed, summarizes the status of the various bilateral negotiations with the European countries concerning atomic energy agreements other than those of the standard research reactor.↩
- In telegram 1000 from Brussels, April 25, Ambassador Butterworth reported that in a conversation with Spaak that day the Belgian Foreign Minister was insistent that the most important contribution which the United States could make “was to convince Messina Governments, particularly Germans, they stood to gain more from multilateral community efforts than by bilateral arrangements with the United States. For this reason he was particularly grateful for US Government message (Deptel 1133) recently conveyed him and other Messina Foreign Ministers in this regard.” (Department of State, Central Files, 840.00/4–2556) The various Embassy responses to telegram 2797 to Bonn (sent to Brussels as telegram 1133) are ibid., 840.00 and 840.1901.↩