Office of the Historian

247. Memorandum of Conversation0

USDEL/MC/6
Washington, March 31, 1959, 2:30 p.m.

NATO MINISTERIAL MEETING

APRIL 2–4 1959

SUBJECT

  • New French Paper on Contingency Planning

PARTICIPANTS

  • United Kingdom
    • Foreign Secretary Lloyd
    • Ambassador Caccia
    • Sir Anthony Rumbold
    • Mr. D.S. Laskey
  • United States
    • Acting Secretary Herter
    • Deputy Under Secretary Murphy
    • Assistant Secretary Merchant, EUR
    • Mr. W.N. Dale, BNA

Mr. Lloyd stated that the new French formulation concerning military aspects of contingency planning1 was the opposite of what the French had proposed in January [less than 1 line of source text not declassified]. Mr. Herter said that what the French are driving at is for our military experts to plan now what we would do militarily in case negotiations fail.

Mr. Lloyd added that the wording of the French formulation does not worry him but Ambassador Alphand’s interpretation of it cannot be accepted. The Foreign Secretary expressed his belief that the minute worked out at Camp David,2 namely that we will decide what to do militarily in light of the situation as it develops, is the best course. Mr. Herter reviewed a number of steps which the U.S. has in mind for this contingency, such as certain types of mobilization, action in the UN and other means of alerting public opinion and obtaining support for the Western position. He did not see any great difference in wording between our own agreed minute and the French proposal. Mr. Murphy reviewed the substance of the French paper and concluded that its tone was more positive than ours. Mr. Lloyd said he was all for firmness even “from those with only families left in Germany”. He said he wanted to ask the French what the change in their attitude since January actually is [Page 546] and what their new paper really means. Mr. Herter said that he agreed that this should be done since it is important not to let language go with different interpretations. Mr. Lloyd reiterated that there can be no automatic decision now to take measures later on [less than 1 line of source text not declassified]. Mr. Merchant said that he liked the French language which went beyond our agreed minute and suggested that we ascertain whether Couve de Murville agrees with our interpretation of it. It was agreed that the French would be sounded out accordingly.

  1. Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1226. Secret. Drafted by Dale and approved by Herter on April 13. Also discussed were the draft report to NATO and a U.S. high altitude flight to Berlin. Memoranda of these conversations are ibid.↩
  2. The French formulation is described in Documents 246 and 248.↩
  3. A copy of the agreed U.S.-U.K. minute is in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1214.↩