Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XIII, Western Europe Region

140. Circular Telegram From the Department of State to Certain Posts in Europe¹

Washington, March 10, 1966, 6:57 p.m.

1731. Paris NATUS. Subj: NATO Crisis,EEC and Kennedy Round.

1. Following is Department’s preliminary thinking for your guidance and comment.

2. De Gaulle and possibly one or more of Five at some point may attempt to use the European Communities as a hostage in evolving NATO crisis and, realistically, positions taken in one context will to some extent be related to other. We assume, however, that the Five share our hope that the NATO crisis can be kept separate from the EEC insofar as possible. This in no way implies that US not prepared meet NATO crisis squarely in security context, but hopefully both internal and external work programs of the European Economic Community, specifically including the Kennedy Round, will be carried forward as rapidly as possible.

Rusk

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, DEF 4 NATO. Confidential. Drafted by Hinton and Schaetzel and cleared by Ball, Thompson, McKillop, Finn, Vest, E, and STR. Sent to Bonn, Brussels (also for USEC), The Hague, London, Luxembourg (also for USEC), Paris, Rome, and Geneva.