Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Austrian State Treaty; Summit and Foreign Ministers Meetings, 1955, Volume V

119. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the United Kingdom¹

Washington, May 23, 1955—2:36 p.m.

5949. From Secretary for Ambassador. Please convey following highly confidential message from me to Macmillan:

Begin text. Dear Harold:

I have talked to the President about the four-power meeting of Heads of Govt and reported to him on our good talks in Paris and Vienna on this subject. He has now asked me to get your reaction to the following suggestions regarding the four-power meeting:

The President fully agrees with the conclusion we reached in our recent talks that this conference should be held just as soon as practicable. He therefore suggests that the four Heads of Government meet from July 18 to July 21 inclusive, with the four Foreign Ministers meeting on July 16 to go over the final arrangements. This would leave time for further discussions among the three Western Ministers on the 17th and a further meeting with Molotov if necessary. If the meeting cannot be held at the above time, it would probably not be feasible for the President personally to leave Washington until the latter days of August, because for Constitutional reasons he must be here during the final ten days of the Congressional session, which is expected to adjourn some time in early August, and for at least ten days following the session.

Insofar as the place of the meeting is concerned, we would suggest Lausanne, because the international meetings which are now scheduled for Geneva in July would make it very difficult to arrange adequate facilities for the meeting as well as living accommodations in Geneva. The President would however accept Geneva if physical arrangements could be made.

The President believes that the Delegations should be limited to reflect the purpose of the meeting not to engage in any substantive discussions of issues, but simply to formulate the issues to be worked on and to agree on methods to be followed for their solution. He is, for himself, having regard for the limited purposes of the meeting, thinking along the lines of the US Delegation consisting of himself; myself; our Ambassador to Moscow; and two or three senior advisers who would be expected to sit in regularly at the meetings. There would be, in addition, a press officer and the necessary clerical and communications assistance.

The President also feels there would be advantage in our following up our May 10 invitation to the Soviets² with another message, making a specific suggestion as to time and place, and I am enclosing a draft of such a message to indicate what we had in mind. I am also attaching a list of topics which we anticipate might come up, either at the suggestion of the Western powers or the Soviet Union.

I know we are all in full agreement on the vital importance of adequate tripartite preparation. Now that Mr. Molotov has indicated that he will come to San Francisco, I assume from our talks in Paris that both you and Mr. Pinay would also plan to come. This will afford us opportunity for some good tripartite discussions as well as further talks with Molotov. Before the three of us meet with Molotov, it seems most important that we talk together, and it has occurred to me that we might meet in New York about June 16–17, immediately preceding the San Francisco Conference. For us to accomplish the maximum results from such discussions, I also suggest that it would be useful to have our meeting preceded by a tripartite working group, where our experts could lay the groundwork for our talks. With this in mind, such a working group might meet in Washington from about June 8 to 14, and then be available to us in New York.³

I would greatly appreciate your views, both on the President’s suggestions as to the four-power conference of Heads of Government set forth above and on the possibility of our getting together in New York. If the New York meeting at the dates suggested is impracticable, I would welcome any ideas you might have as to when and where we might get together before the meeting with Molotov at San Francisco.

I am sending a similar message to Mr. Pinay.

Faithfully yours, Foster Dulles. End text.

Enclosures mentioned in foregoing text sent in next two immediately following telegrams.⁴

Dulles

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1/5–2355. Secret; Limit Distribution. Also sent to Paris for Pinay and repeated to Moscow. Drafted by MacArthur on May 21 at the request of Secretary Dulles, who in turn made several minor revisions of the text. (Memorandum by MacArthur, May 21; ibid., 396.1/5–2155) MacArthur, again at the request of Dulles, also cleared it with President Eisenhower at a meeting at 10:50 a.m. on May 23, where two minor revisions were made by the President.

   At the same meeting with the President, MacArthur informed him of the decisions that had been taken at the meetings on May 20 (see supra). President Eisenhower raised no objection to the arrangements, but did stress the importance of keeping the delegations small. (Memorandum by MacArthur, May 23; Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 63 D 123, CF 460)

2. See Document 114.
3. In telegram 5952, May 23, the Embassy in London was told to inform Macmillan when it delivered this message that the United States was prepared to exchange views on a Four-Power Conference privately with the United Kingdom prior to the meeting of the working group. (Department of State, Central Files, 396.1/5–2355)
4. Infra and Document 121.