366. Telegram From the Secretary of State to the Department of State1
Dulte 78. For the Acting Secretary. In tripartite coordinating meeting UK tabled following draft final communiqué:
Begin UK text: In compliance with directive issued by four Heads of Government after their meeting in Geneva in July, Foreign Ministers of France, UK, USA, and USSR met in Geneva from October 27 to November 16. They had full discussion of three items entrusted to them in directive.
Foreign Ministers agreed to report result of their discussions to their respective Heads of Government and to recommend that the question of a resumption of their discussions in spring or early summer should be pursued through diplomatic channels. End UK text.
After studying UK text, US suggested following:
Begin US text: In compliance with directive issued by four Heads of Government after their meeting in Geneva in July, the Foreign Ministers of France, UK, USA, and USSR met in Geneva from October 27 to November 16. They had frank and comprehensive discussion of three items entrusted to them in directive.
Foreign Ministers agreed to report result of their discussions to their respective Heads of Government and to recommend that future course of discussions of Foreign Ministers should be set through diplomatic channels. End US text.
Thinking behind both above drafts is that in absence any real agreements with Soviets at this conference we should not in final communiqué try to produce impression there is agreement on substantive matters where this does not exist, although Soviets may press for communiqué that gives appearance agreement on fundamentals. Also we are reluctant to have specific mention of meeting next spring or early summer since even as phrased in UK draft this might be interpreted as commitment to such meeting, which might be extremely difficult for us in view fact Congress will be adjourning about that time and situation will be further complicated by forthcoming US elections.
We are also considering issuing separate tripartite statement on disarmament at conclusion conference reaffirming Western position.
Your comments requested.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–GE/11–1455. Confidential; Priority. Drafted by MacArthur.↩