7. Telegram From the Delegation at the North Atlantic Council Ministerial Meeting to the Department of State 1

Secto 13. Secretary accompanied by Dillon met before luncheon with Faure accompanied by Pinay and Berard.2

Faure first said that probably the most important and difficult subject between us was the question of Indochina but that he would leave that for further meetings scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.3

Faure then took up the question of North Africa and it was during the middle of this discussion that Pinay entered the meeting. Faure said that he hoped, in view of the liberal and moderate policy of the French in North Africa as indicated by the recent Tunisian agreement,4 that the United States would find it possible to support the French position in North Africa. Secretary replied that the United States had already given such support and mentioned our intervention with Egypt regarding the Cairo radio and our intervention with Spain. He then asked Faure what specifically he had in mind. Faure said that what he had in mind primarily was that a general feeling be created that United States was not lending its support to those who were opposing France in North Africa. He said the question was more one of general feeling than of detail, but he mentioned two specific instances. First was support given by certain American labor circles to [Page 13] Moroccan unions. Faure said that American labor representatives may have felt they were working against the Communists in helping these Nationalist labor movements, but that the chief result was anti-French propaganda which played directly into the hands of the Communists. As second instance, Faure mentioned that Caltex Company in Libya had hired 20–25 refugees from Tunis and Morocco. In this case the number was not important but it was the principle that anti-French refugees could easily find employment with a large American company. Secretary again replied that we had assisted the French in the past because they had indicated they would pursue a liberal policy and he emphasized the importance of continuing to pursue such a policy. He said if this was not done a situation similar to that in Indochina might arise. The Indochinese situation was aggravated by the fact that Communist China was immediately adjacent, whereas the Communist countries were not directly connected with North Africa. Nevertheless, the Secretary said the Communists would be able to find ways of acting in North Africa and the best way to circumvent them was for France to pursue a genuinely liberal policy there. Faure agreed with this and said that this was his intention.

Next subject raised by Faure was the question of [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] Radio Budapest. This was only touched on lightly as Faure said he was not familiar with this problem in detail, but only knew that it had been raised by Mendes-France Government. He asked Dillon if he was familiar with past discussions on this subject and Dillon replied in the affirmative and said that the United States had made a tentative offer to establish a VOA broadcast on a wave length close to that of Radio Budapest but had not ever received any reaction from the French Government to this suggestion.

Finally, Faure handed the Secretary a note in English regarding off-shore procurement in which the French Government expressed regret that they apparently were not being given the opportunity to bid on 155 mm. ammunition, and expressed the hope that the quality of the bids submitted by French companies for 105 mm. ammunition would be given full consideration and that the largest possible orders for these items would be placed in France. Full text of note follows by pouch.5

Dulles
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.51/5–955. Secret. Repeated to Rabat and Tripoli. For documentation on the NAC meetings at Paris, May 9–11, 1955, see vol. IV, pp. 1 ff.
  2. Armand Berard, diplomatic counselor to the Prime Minister.
  3. For a summary of the conversation on May 10, see vol. I, pp. 393399.
  4. See footnote 3, Document 1.
  5. Faure’s note was transmitted to the Department of State in telegram 4901 from Paris, May 9. (Department of State, Central Files, 751.5–MSP/5–955)