Office of the Historian

396. Telegram From Secretary of State Herter to the Department of State0

Geneva, June 16, 1959, noon.

Cahto 116. Eyes only Ambassadors, Gufler, Burgess and Moscow Chargé. Paris pass USRO. From Secretary. Following break-up at 8 pm last night of private Foreign Ministers meeting with Gromyko, I met for an hour with Couve and Lloyd. Lucet, Rumbold and Merchant were also present. We were agreed that discussion with Gromyko had taken step backward rather than forward and basic conflict was now clear, i.e. that we would not relinquish our rights in Berlin and Soviets were determined sooner or later to achieve removal of our presence from West Berlin.

We agreed that Deputies should meet this morning rapidly to revise five-point paper given Gromyko June 8 with view to closer approach to our basic position and with principal eye on its appeal for public opinion.1 Chief concession contemplated was finding language implicitly protecting maintenance our rights without explicit spell-out. Both British and French also desire insert in it offer to declare intention promptly to reduce combined garrison strength in West Berlin to figure 10,000. We will firmly resist this on grounds any reduction would seriously affect morale West Berliners.

Four Western Foreign Ministers will meet 3 pm today to consider draft emerging from Deputies with view conveying copy to Gromyko this evening or Wednesday morning in advance scheduled Wednesday afternoon private Foreign Ministers meeting. Brentano was not present this talk but Couve undertook to brief him last night and he will be present as indicated at this afternoon’s meeting.

Herter
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 762.00/6–1659. Secret; Niact. Repeated to London, Bonn, Paris, Moscow, and Berlin.↩
  2. A memorandum of the conversation at the Deputies Coordinating Group meeting at 10 a.m., US/MC/104, is ibid., Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1376; a copy of the French draft from which they worked is ibid.; for text of the paper as presented to Gromyko later that day, see Foreign Ministers Meeting, pp. 312–313; Cmd. 868, pp. 237–238; or Documents on Germany, 1944–1985, pp. 665–666.↩