110. Telegram From the Secretary of State to the Department of State 1
Dulte 12. Eyes only Acting Secretary from Secretary for President.
“Dear Mr. President:
“My first meeting today (Sunday) was with Harold Macmillan. We then prepared the draft of a possible message to the Soviet Union on a Big Four meeting, the text of which I cabled you via Hoover.2 I took him aside and asked him privately whether his government really attached high importance to this, and he assured me that they did. I am somewhat concerned over the passionate eagerness here in Europe for a meeting of the Big Four, particularly at the Head-of-Government level on the theory that this will produce some kind of a miracle. No one seems interested in trying to think up how there can be any discussion which will in fact be fruitful. The mere fact of meeting seems of itself to be enough. The Macmillan proposal3 is at least an effort to grapple with the realities of the fact that it is hopeless to believe, and wrong to bring the public to believe, that in three or four days you and Bulganin could settle such problems as the unification of Germany, the elimination of atomic weapons and general disarmament. Nevertheless, these are the items which Faure later on proposed to be the agenda. If the four agree on a procedure for tackling these problems, and possibly the problem raised by China’s threat against Formosa, that in itself will be a great and difficult achievement. Later in the day Macmillan agreed to introduce in the draft invitation the further reference to the Foreign Ministers coming together somewhat in advance of the Heads of Government to pave the way for agreement on the procedural matters which, according to his proposal, would be on the agenda.
“Following my meeting with Macmillan, Martino, the Italian Foreign Minister, came in to beg for a NATO resolution which would declare obsolete and of no effect all aspects of the Italian Peace Treaty which were ‘discriminatory’. I said that I had no power to abolish treaty provisions that had been approved by the Senate and that nobody could tell what clauses were ‘discriminatory’. Was it ‘discriminatory’ that Italy gave up its colonies, whereas the other signatories did not? The plight of the Scelba party seems desperate [Page 175] since it broke open over the election of President, and he is looking for some miracle to help save him. I am afraid I cannot produce the particular miracle he specifies.
“After lunch, the three Western powers first met and then were joined by Adenauer.4 Pinay presided. At the meeting of three, Macmillan outlined his project for a Big Four meeting, and Pinay seemed to agree. However he seemed confused and later on after Adenauer joined us, made a quite inconsistent and unacceptable proposal of his own for a meeting to deal with the substantive matters referred to above. He did not specify that it should be heads of government. There is considerable jealousy between Faure and Pinay. Faure wants a meeting at the Heads-of-Government level, and Pinay wants it at the Foreign Ministers level. Incidentally, Adenauer privately whispered to me that he felt that it would be wise to avoid bringing Faure into the discussions with the Soviets. He does not seem to feel that he is very ‘solid’.
“The meeting of Four was desultory and got nowhere. The conclusion was to await our decision as to Big Four meeting.
“Pinay reopened the Austrian matter and seemed to be wavering on whether or not we should sign the Austrian Treaty. I cannot think why and he did not give any clear indications. In any event the upshot was to await Molotov’s reply to our invitation to sign next week.
“Pinay also told me privately that he did not think that Faure meant what he said when he proposed to withdraw the French troops.5 Pinay implied that Faure was bluffing because, Pinay said, it would be ‘unthinkable’ to abandon southern Viet Nam to the Communists. This is another matter where Faure and Pinay differ sharply, but Indo-China is not under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Minister, but under the Minister for Colonies, and Faure is in fact running that and alone dealing with Indo-China to the exclusion of Pinay.
“Tonight I give a dinner for Pinay.
“Faithfully yours,
“Foster”
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1/5–955. Top Secret; No Other Distribution. A copy of this telegram was delivered to the White House at noon on May 9.↩
- See Document 114. For a brief account of this meeting by Macmillan, see Tides of Fortune, p. 589.↩
- See Dulte 13, infra .↩
- Minutes of these two meetings are in Department of State, CFM Files, Box 170, Quadripartite Meetings; also see Dulte 13, infra . For a French account of these meetings, see Documents Diplomatiques Français, 1955, Tome 1, Annexes, pp. 95–110.↩
- In a meeting with Dulles on May 7 Faure proposed the withdrawal of French forces from Vietnam. (Dulte 2 from Paris, May 7; Department of State, Central Files, 396.1/5–755)↩