165. Editorial Note
President de Gaulle made a State visit to the United States April 22–29 after a 4-day visit to Canada. He came at the invitation of President Eisenhower who had invited him in a letter of July 3, 1958. Secretary of State Dulles had presented the letter to de Gaulle in Paris on July 5; see footnote 1, Document 34. de Gaulle, who was accompanied by Madame de Gaulle and Foreign Minister Couve de Murville, was in Washington April 22–26. On the morning of April 26, he began a brief trip to New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans accompanied by Under Secretary of State Dillon and Mrs. Dillon. He left New Orleans on April 29 for French Guiana. The briefing memorandum on the visit is published in Declassified Documents, 1977, 326D.
On April 22, President and Mrs. Eisenhower gave a State dinner in honor of President and Mrs. de Gaulle. On Saturday, April 23, de Gaulle met with correspondents at the National Press Club and attended a dinner hosted by Vice President and Mrs. Nixon. A copy of the text of his news conference is in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 559, CF 1636. On Sunday, April 24, Eisenhower took the de Gaulles to visit his farm at Gettysburg and later to Camp David. On April 25, de Gaulle addressed a joint session of Congress, after which Secretary of State and Mrs. Herter hosted a luncheon for the French party.
During de Gaulle’s stay in Washington, Eisenhower met with him four times to discuss issues of mutual concern. Memoranda of these conversations of April 22, 24, 25, and 26 are printed as Documents 167–170. Herter and Dillon met with Couve de Murville twice to discuss matters of common interest. On April 24, they discussed the 10–power disarmament talks and summit proceedings. The next day, they talked about summit procedures and on April 29, Couve de Murville and Dillon [Page 340] discussed the Norstad plan, the Tunisian border, and Moroccan arms. Copies of the memoranda of these conversations are in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 559, CF 1631.
The texts of a joint communiqué issued on April 25, de Gaulle’s address before Congress, the exchange of greetings between the two leaders at Washington National Airport on April 22, an exchange of toasts at the State dinner at the White House that evening, and remarks made by Herter at the luncheon on April 25 are printed in Department of State Bulletin, May 16, 1960, pages 771–775.
The most extensive body of documentation on de Gaulle’s visit is in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 559, CF 1631–1636. The briefing papers for the visit are in CF 1632 and 1633 and the chronology of the visit is in CF 1633 and 1636. Additional documentation is in the Eisenhower Library and in Department of State, Central File 751.11.