135. Memorandum of Conversation Between President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles0
1. I spoke of the forthcoming NATO meeting. I said that I thought that the two important issues that might come up were (1) “parity at the [Page 320] Summit” and (2) Algeria. I explained to the President why we opposed “parity” and the President indicated his complete concurrence. I said that it was possible, although I thought unlikely, that the French might demand an expression of NATO solidarity behind French policy in Algeria.1 The President thought that it would be quite impractical to give any such blank check. We wanted a French policy that would succeed and we could not be bound to endorse elements of a policy which seemed to be failing.
[Here follows discussion of unrelated matters.]
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Meetings with the President. Secret; Personal and Private. Drafted by Secretary Dulles. The source text indicates that Under Secretary Herter was also present.↩
- In a memorandum of telephone conversation between Matthew J. Looram, Jr., Office of Western European Affairs, and Charles E. Lucet, Minister of the French Embassy, April 30, Lucet said that France would not raise the subject of Algeria at the NATO meeting in Copenhagen, May 5–7, because the Felix Gaillard government had fallen and felt it could no longer raise the Algerian issue in that forum. (Department of State, Central Files, 396.1-CO/4–3058) Algeria was not discussed at the Copenhagen meeting, although Secretary Dulles discussed the question privately with British officials in Copenhagen and with French officials during his visit to Paris following the meeting. See footnote 1, Document 150.↩