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

204. Editorial Note

In addition to President Eisenhower’s lunch with Marshal Zhukov (see supra) two other members of the United States Delegation held working lunches at 1 p.m. Livingston Merchant, accompanied by Coburn Kidd, dined in his hotel room with Herbert Blankenhorn, Chancellor Adenauer’s special representative at Geneva. Merchant described the conversation as follows:

“We talked at length on the Soviet attitude on reunification. He said that Adenauer was deeply disappointed but not greatly surprised by the Russian obduracy and above all was reassured by the firmness or the Western position on this matter, so vital to him and his country.” (Merchant, Recollections, page 38)

Douglas MacArthur II, presumably accompanied by Bowie and Phleger, held a working lunch with the Tripartite Coordinating (Working) Group at the same time. No record of this lunch has been found in Department of State files.