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

218. Memorandum From the Secretary of State to the President¹

Geneva, July 21, 1955.

Dear Mr. President: I attach a copy of the proposed directive which was agreed to by the three Western powers and presented this morning. I also attach a copy of the Soviet Union’s proposed directive.²

Molotov indicated in conversation that he could take considerable parts of our directive, but reserved his position on talking about German reunification as of equal rank with European Security.³

In view of the fact that Faure does not always follow Pinay’s line and that Faure tends to compromise rather easily, I suggest you ask him to hold firm for the three-power position during the first round of discussion at 3:30.⁴ It is of paramount importance that we should not equivocate on the subject of German unification or seem to make it subordinate to anything else. We must hold Faure to this position, which Pinay fully shares. If the three powers get wobbly on this, the situation in Germany and Adenauer’s position could deteriorate very rapidly.

JFD⁵

1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File. Secret.
2. No copies of the draft directives were attached to the source text, but see supra.
3. For the discussion of the two draft directives, see supra.
4. President Eisenhower was scheduled to meet with Faure at 2:30 p.m.; see Document 220.
5. Initialed for Dulles by O’Connor.