143. Memorandum of Conversation1
SUBJECT
- General
PARTICIPANTS
- President Johnson
- Chancellor Erhard
- Ambassador Hand
- Mr. Jack Valenti
- Heinz Weber, FRG interpreter
- Harry Obst, US interpreter
The President asked Chancellor Erhard if he was happy with the communiqué as just agreed upon.2 The Chancellor replied he was happy [Page 353] and thought it had been a good idea to include the passage on the Great Society and the Formierte Gesellschaft. He thanked the President for agreeing to the last minute changes suggested by his representatives and expressed his gratitude for the wonderful reception he and his staff had received, in particular the splendid dinner the night before.
The President remarked that he had read carefully the paper on nuclear sharing that the Chancellor had submitted3 and that he was in basic agreement with the ideas contained therein. He would talk to Mr. Wilson about it.4 Erhard should also mention this issue to Wilson separately. After that they could look at it again in more detail. They should keep in close touch on the matter.
The Chancellor agreed to discuss the matter with Prime Minister Wilson and did not pursue the subject further.
The President again brought up the matter of offset payments. He pressed the Chancellor hard for a German payment of $100 million before the first of the year reiterating that only $50 million had been received from Germany since July while up to $300 million had flowed from the U.S. to Germany during the same period. The President said the payment was needed because of the balance of payments situation and in order to retain confidence in the dollar.
The Chancellor replied the Germans were honoring their agreements. The military were in the process of inventory and were not in a position to know what to order at this time. He did not think the President should look at this issue like an accountant from a short-term viewpoint, rather it should be looked at from a broader perspective. He again explained his own financial problems and said he would talk to his Finance Minister and the military to see what could be done. Mr. Von Hassel and Mr. McNamara were also discussing this and the matter was not being neglected.
The President said he was aware of the Chancellor’s problems. He asked the Chancellor if he understood correctly that the FRG would honor the (offset) agreement. The Chancellor nodded agreement.
The President brought forth a letter from Prime Minister Wilson in which the latter confirmed a higher British contribution to the Asian Development Bank.5 He inquired if it was correct that the Federal Republic would contribute $50 million to the Bank.
The Chancellor answered that he had been able to get only $30 million from his parliament at this time, but he repeated his private promise to the President to have this increased to $50 million at an opportune [Page 354] time. Right now he could not do more. The President asked if this was $50 million total over 10 years. The Chancellor verified this.
The President explained again his tremendous budget problems. He might have to ask for as much as $125 billion to keep the effort in Viet-Nam and the other programs going. He reiterated his request for 200 medical personnel and a construction battalion of about a thousand men as a German contribution to Viet-Nam.
The Chancellor repeated his remarks of the day before on this subject. He had no constitutional power to do this on his own. It would have to be done on a voluntary basis. He could therefore not make a firm promise, but he would throw his influence behind the matter and study it after his return. He would find some way of assisting.
The President asked the Chancellor what he could do for him, what he would like to take home with him for his people? The Chancellor replied he would like to repeat his invitation to have the President come to Germany for a visit in 1966. The President replied he was pleased by the invitation, but that he would be a very busy man in 1966 and did not know if he would be able to come.
The Chancellor asked the President what exactly he could tell his people and the press on this subject. The President said the Chancellor could tell them he had invited him, that the President was delighted over the invitation, that he would very much like to go, that however at this time he could not definitely commit himself. Mrs. Johnson had expressed great interest in going to Germany in 1966. She would like to go with Interior Secretary Udall to study city planning and beautification programs in Germany. Chancellor Erhard replied that Mrs. Johnson would be most welcome in the Federal Republic.
- Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 67 D 305, CF 2571. Secret. Drafted by Obst.↩
- For text, see Department of State Bulletin, January 10, 1966, pp. 50–51.↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1964–1968, vol. XIII, Document 119, footnote 3.↩
- For text of President Johnson’s December 23 letter to Wilson, see ibid., Document 121.↩
- A copy of Wilson’s December 17 letter is in the Johnson Library, National Security File, Head of State Correspondence, UK, vol. 2.↩