120. Letter From the German Chargé d’Affaires (Lilienfeld) to President Johnson1
My dear Mr. President:
Chancellor Erhard has asked me to transmit you the following telegram:
[Here follows the German text of the letter.]
“Dear Mr. President:
Thank you for your letter of 12 February in which you informed me about the result of your Honolulu talks with the leaders of the South Vietnamese Government and about American intentions regarding future economic support for South Vietnam.2 I have read your message with close attention, and I may assure you that the German Government, too, in conformity with our talks in Washington, is looking for ways and means to afford South Vietnam effective assistance in the non-military field.
I have followed with great interest the reports on the presentation before Congress of the United States Government’s position. I would congratulate you on the obviously deep and convincing impression which your Government’s explanation of its policy has made.
The purpose of my present letter is above all to expound to you my views on the Geneva negotiations concerning the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. As I was able to explain to you during our meeting in Washington,3 the German Government shares your wish that it may be possible to halt the peace-threatening spread of weapons of mass destruction.
Naturally, we must in this connexion give thought to problems affecting our own security. The basis of our security is the confidence in the Atlantic alliance and in particular in the declarations made by the U.S. Government within the alliance. I have particularly appreciated that you received my ideas about the development of a joint nuclear force [Page 306] within NATO which I put before you during my visit to Washington, with positive understanding. Provided that this plan will be realized, we are prepared, as repeatedly stated, to envisage further international commitments in the nuclear field.
In view of the security requirements of the alliance we have welcomed the draft treaty submitted by your Government on 18 (sic) August 19654 as an important contribution towards solving the problem of nuclear non-proliferation. We have now noted that your Government intends to make some changes in the wording of the draft treaty which, in the American view, are not supposed to affect the substance of the treaty.5
On examination of the changes proposed by your Government doubts have, however, arisen whether the amendments envisaged would not in fact narrow down the present possibilities of the alliance to settle the nuclear question. Thus, the new wording in particular raises the question whether it is still beyond any doubt that the establishment of a European nuclear force, in which majority decisions on the use of the weapons could be taken, remains possible.
Furthermore the new wording of Article II of the draft seems to exclude the cooperation of non-nuclear countries in the atomic armaments production of nuclear states and thus to block certain perspectives which the German Government would not like to see given up in view of future possibilities of European-Atlantic cooperation, however remote they may be at present.
Generally speaking, we feel that the new draft because of its complicated wording may give room for misinterpretation, a possibility of which the Soviet Union may avail itself to the detriment of the Atlantic alliance. Thus the Soviet Government might argue that the use from German soil of tactical nuclear weapons under the command of SACEUR was not admissible, even after a general release by the U.S. President. This would make an element highly significant for NATO defense a subject of discussion with the Soviet Union.
I would be very grateful to you, Mr. President, if another exchange of views could take place between your Government and the German Government on the extremely important question of how the objective of nuclear non-proliferation could best and most effectively be attained.
Accept, Mr. President, the expression of my highest consideration.
m.p. May I in this connection once again express the hope that political developments in 1966 will allow you to visit Europe including [Page 307] Germany. You may be sure of the enthusiastic concurrence of my countrymen.
Mrs. Erhard and I would be extremely glad to welcome on that occasion Mrs. Johnson as well.
Very sincerely, Yours (sgd) Ludwig Erhard.”
Respectfully Yours,
- Source: Johnson Library, Bator Papers, Non-Proliferation, August 3, 1965-July 29, 1966, Box 30. Secret. A cover memorandum by Francis M. Bator, which transmitted this letter to President Johnson on February 25, states that Chancellor Erhard was concerned that the recent changes in the U.S. draft nonproliferation treaty “will narrow the possibilities for NATO nuclear arrangements involving hardware.” Bator stated that “we will be able to reassure the Germans on this score.”↩
- President Johnson’s February 12 letter to Chancellor Erhard is in circular telegram 1531 to 15 Embassies, including Bonn, February 11. (Johnson Library, National Security File, Head of State Special Correspondence File, Germany, 6/25/65-2/25/66, Box 17)↩
- See footnote 4, Document 106.↩
- Text in Documents on Disarmament, 1965, pp. 347-349.↩
- See footnote 4, Document 118.↩