Preface

The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major United States foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity of the United States Government. The series documents the facts and events that contributed to the formulation of policies and includes evidence of supporting and alternative views to the policy positions ultimately adopted.

The Historian of the Department of State is responsible for the preparation of the Foreign Relations series. The editing of the series in the Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, is guided by principles of historical objectivity and accuracy. Documents are not altered or deletions made without indicating where changes have been made. Every effort is made to identify lacunae in the record and to explain why they have occurred. Certain omissions may be necessary to protect national security or to condense the record and avoid needless repetition. The published record, however, omits no facts that were of major importance in reaching a decision, and nothing has been excluded for the purpose of concealing or glossing over a defect in policy.

At the time of the compilation of this volume in 1978 and 1979, the Department was guided in the preparation of the Foreign Relations series by official regulations first promulgated by Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg on March 26, 1925. A new statutory charter for the preparation of the Foreign Relations series was established by Title IV of Public Law 102–138, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993, which was signed by the President on October 28, 1991. That new charter requires that the Foreign Relations series “shall be a thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record of major United States foreign policy decisions and significant United States diplomatic activity.” The new charter also requires that the Foreign Relations series be published “not more than 30 years after the events recorded.”

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Structure and Scope of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series

This volume is part of a comprehensive subseries of volumes that documents the most important issues in the foreign policy of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration. The subseries covers the years 1955 through 1957. In planning the 1955–1957 triennium, the editors chose to present documentation on U.S. relations with and policy toward the nations of Europe in five separate volumes: Volume IV, Western European Security and Integration; Volume V, Austrian State Treaty and Summit and Foreign Ministers Meetings, 1955; Volume XXIV, Soviet Union and the Eastern Mediterranean; Volume XXV, Eastern Europe; Volume XXVI, Central and Southeastern Europe; and Volume XXVII, Western Europe.

Sources for the Foreign Relations Series

The law requires that the published record contained in the Foreign Relations series must reflect all major foreign policy decisions and activities and include relevant documentation from all government agencies and entities involved in foreign policy formulation, execution, or support. The historical records of the Presidents and their national security advisers together with the still larger body of documentation in the Department of State are the principal sources for the Foreign Relations series. The National Archives and Records Administration, including the Presidential libraries that it administers, is the main repository and coordinating authority for historical government records and a major source for the documents and information included in the series. Specific sources used in preparing this volume are described in detail in the List of Sources, pages XIII–XVII.

Principles of Selection for Foreign Relations, 1955–1957, Volume XXVII

This volume provides extensive documentation on U.S. relations with the states of Western Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Scandinavia) and Canada. Given the bulk of extant records, however, this volume includes only a selection of the most important documents dealing with U.S. policy toward these states.

Several important topics have been used as the focal points for the selection of documents included in this volume. The documentation on France concentrates on the problems created by the decline of French power and France’s continued effort to play a major power role in Europe and globally. The chapter on Italy examines the continuing, although not always coordinated, efforts of the U.S. and Italian Governments to reduce the power and influence of the Italian Communist Party. Documentation on Portugal centers on the renegotiation of the Azores base agreement and on related Portuguese efforts to secure [Page V] U.S. backing for its colonial policies. The chapter on Spain concentrates on issues of military cooperation and economic development. Documents on the Scandinavian states deal with a variety of issues related to defense, trade, and economic development. The chapter on the United Kingdom covers issues from disarmament to nuclear cooperation and from European integration to Middle East policy in the wake of the Suez crisis. This documentation illustrates the depth of cooperation and the strength of personalties that existed between the leaders of the two states despite the decline of British power after World War II. The chapter on Canada focuses on economic and defense cooperation issues and on the problem of anti-Americanism.

President Eisenhower was closely involved in formulation of policy toward the United Kingdom and also took an active role in the formulation of policy regarding Italy, France, and Spain. The editors have used the extensive materials available in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, including the memoranda of discussion at National Security Council meetings and other institutional NSC documents included in the Library’s Whitman File. Documents from the Eisenhower Library or copies in Department files constitute a significant portion of the material printed in this volume.

The Department of State and the Embassies in Rome, Madrid, London, Lisbon, Ottawa, and Paris played continuous and important roles in the policy process. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles outlined major policy proposals for the President and made significant decisions within the lines of established policy for all the states of Western Europe and Canada as well as conducted intensive personal diplomacy with the leaders of Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, and the United Kingdom. The Embassies in these states also made important recommendations on policy. The editors have had complete access to all Department of State files, including the central decimal files; the special files of the Executive Secretariat; the various decentralized (lot) files originally maintained at the bureau, office, or division level; and the Embassy files retired to the Washington National Records Center of the National Archives and Records Administration. Additional documentation for this volume came from the Radford Papers at the Naval Historical Center and from other Department of Defense collections. Documents originated by the Central Intelligence Agency that are to be found among the collections of the Eisenhower Library were consulted. That research was accomplished with the full cooperation and assistance of the CIA.

Completion of the declassification of this volume and the final steps of its preparation for publication coincided with the development of procedures since early 1991 by the Central Intelligence Agency, in cooperation with the Department of State, that have expanded access by Department historians to high-level intelligence documents from [Page VI] among those records still in the custody of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Department of State chose not to postpone the publication of this volume to ascertain how such access might affect the scope of available documentation and the changes that might be made in the contents of this particular volume. The Department of State, however, is making good use of these new procedures, which have been arranged by the CIA’s History Staff, for the compilation of future volumes in the Foreign Relations series.

The declassification review process for this volume, which is outlined in more detail below, resulted in the withholding from publication of about 12 percent of the documents originally selected. The editors are confident that the documents published in this volume provide an accurate record of U.S. relations with the states of Western Europe and Canada during the 1955–1957 period.

The editors wish to acknowledge the assistance of officials at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, in particular David Haight; the National Archives and Records Administration; the Department of Defense; and other specialized repositories who assisted in the collection of documents for this volume.

Editorial Methodology

The documents are presented chronologically according to Washington time. Incoming telegrams from U.S. missions are placed according to time of receipt in the Department of State or other receiving agency, rather than the time of transmission; memoranda of conversation are placed according to the time and date of the conversation, rather than the date the memorandum was drafted.

Editorial treatment of the documents published in the Foreign Relations series follows Office style guidelines, supplemented by guidance from the General Editor and the chief technical editor. The source text is reproduced as exactly as possible, including marginalia or other notations, which are described in the footnotes. Obvious typographical errors are corrected, but other mistakes and omissions in the source text are corrected by bracketed insertions: a correction is set in italic type; an addition in roman type. Bracketed insertions are also used to indicate text that deals with an unrelated subject (in roman type) or that remains classified after declassification review (in italic type). The amount of material not declassified has been noted by indicating the number of lines or pages of source text that were omitted. The amount of material omitted because it was unrelated, however, is not accounted for. All ellipses and brackets that appear in the source text are so identified by footnotes.

The first footnote to each document includes the document’s source, original classification, distribution, and drafting information. This source footnote also provides the background of important documents [Page VII] and policies and indicates if the President or his major policy advisers read the document. Every effort has been made to determine if a document has been previously published, and this information has been included in the source footnote.

Editorial notes and additional annotation summarize pertinent material not printed in this volume, point out the location of additional documentary sources, provide references to important related documents printed in other volumes, describe key events, and summarize and give citations to public statements that supplement and elucidate the printed documents. Information derived from memoirs and other first-hand accounts has been used when necessary to supplement or explicate the official record.

Declassification Review

The Division of Historical Documents Review of the Office of Freedom of Information, Privacy, and Classification Review, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Department of State, conducted the declassification review of the documents contained in this volume. The review was conducted in accordance with the standards set forth in Executive Order 12356 on National Security Information and applicable laws.

Under Executive Order 12356, information that concerns one or more of the following categories, and whose disclosure reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national security, requires classification:

1)

military plans, weapons, or operations;

2)

the vulnerabilities or capabilities of systems, installations, projects, or plans relating to the national security;

3)

foreign government information;

4)

intelligence activities (including special activities), or intelligence sources or methods;

5)

foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States;

6)

scientific, technological, or economic matters relating to national security;

7)

U.S. Government programs for safeguarding nuclear materials or facilities;

8)

cryptology; or

9)

a confidential source.

The principle guiding declassification review is to release all information, subject only to the current requirements of national security and law. Declassification review determinations involved concurrence of the appropriate geographic and functional bureaus in the Department of State, other interested agencies of the U.S. Government, and the appropriate foreign governments.

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Acknowledgements

Under the supervision of former Editor in Chief John P. Glennon, Nancy Johnson compiled the documents on France, the Vatican, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom; Lorraine Lees the documents on Italy; Stephen Harper the documents on Spain; Margaret Kohutanycz the documents on Portugal; and Madeline Chi the documents on Canada. Charles S. Sampson reviewed the manuscript. General Editor Glenn W. LaFantasie supervised the final steps in the editorial and publication process. Kay Herring prepared the lists of sources, abbreviations, and names. Rita M. Baker and Althea W. Robinson did the technical editing. Barbara A. Bacon of the Publishing Services Division (Natalie H. Lee, Chief) oversaw production of the volume. Paul A. Zohav prepared the index.