136. Editorial Note

The Tripartite Working Group on preparations for the meeting of the Heads of Government met at Washington, June 8–14. Douglas MacArthur and Jacob Beam headed the United States Delegation while Sir Roger Makins and Lord Hood and Maurice Couve de Murville and Etienne de Crouy-Chanel, respectively, led the British and French Delegations. The working group held five meetings, on June 8, 9, 10, 13, and 14, and drafted a 30-page report for consideration by the Western Foreign Ministers. The report, which considered arrangements for the Four-Power Conference (Section I), issues to be discussed and methods of exploring solutions (Section II), suggestions regarding opening statements by the Western Representatives at the Heads of Government meeting (Section III), and arrangements for continuing tripartite coordination (Section IV), did not deal with the substance of any of the items that might be on the agenda of the conference. Secretary of State Dulles discussed Section III briefly with President Eisenhower on June 15 and the President expressed his general agreement with its substance. (Memorandum for the record, June 15; Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 63 D 123, CF 472) For full text of the report, see Documents Diplomatiques Français, 1955, Annexes, Tome 1, pages 195–206.

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A copy of the report is in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 63 D 123, CF 472; memoranda of the discussions at the five meetings of the working group are ibid., Central File 396.1–GE and ibid., Conference Files: Lot 63 D 123, CF 486 and 488; for a discussion of the report by the Western Foreign Ministers at New York, see PMCG(NY) MC–7, Document 140.