194. Editorial Note
At 10:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. in Washington) on March 2, Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko handed Ambassador Thompson the Soviet reply to the Western note of February 16. The note proposed a summit conference to consider a German peace treaty, Berlin, European security, and disarmament. If this proposal were not acceptable, the Soviet Union suggested a Foreign Ministers meeting in April to consider a German peace treaty and Berlin with the participation of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.
For text of this note, see Department of State Bulletin, April 13, 1959, pages 508–511. The Embassy in Moscow transmitted its translation of the note in telegram 1724, March 2 (Department of State, Central Files, 396.1/3–259) and the Russian text in despatch 505 the same day. (Ibid.)