Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Berlin Crisis, 1958–1959, Volume VIII

44. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Dulles and Secretary of Defense McElroy⁰

Washington, November 17, 1958, 2:13 p.m.

TELEPHONE CALL TO SEC McELROY

The Sec said we are sending people over to talk to the JCS in a few minutes.¹ Our feeling is until there has been a further exchange of views with the British, French and Germans we should not take a line which might lead to shooting and he thinks that is indicated by the NSC paper² on the subject. We, said M, would not be opposed to completion of consultation. M thinks their feeling is we should not fail to send the same group through at some early future date to indicate we wanted it to go through in the first instance and since it did not we want it to go through now. The Sec read a ticker about something getting through.³ M said they did not understand how that could be in view of Norstad’s cable⁴ though it may refer to something else. The Sec said this is today and N’s cable was yesterday. They agreed the time element is perplexing.

0. Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Telephone Conversations. No classification marking. Drafted by Phyllis D. Bernau.
1. No record of this meeting has been found in Department of State files.
2. Presumably a reference to NSC 5803, Supplement 1, February 7; see Document 5.
3. On November 17 an uncovered convoy had passed through to Berlin without delay, but on the following day the JCS ordered the suspension of all convoys.
4. Regarding EC 9–6071, November 16, to which McElroy is presumably referring, see footnote 6, Document 40.