Office of the Historian

31. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, April 25, 1964.

SUBJECT

  • German Initiative

PARTICIPANTS

  • United States
    • The Secretary
    • Ambassador Thompson
    • Mr. William R. Tyler, Assistant Secretary,EUR
    • Mr. Richard B. Finn, Deputy Director,GER
  • Germany
    • Mr. Georg von Lilienfeld, Minister, German Embassy

Mr. Von Lilienfeld came in at his request. He distributed a message dated April 24, 1964 from Foreign Minister Schroeder to Secretary Rusk stating that the Federal Republic has come to the conclusion that an approach to the Soviets on the German question should be a collective step by the Three Powers and not a German initiative supported by the Three Powers. (The Foreign Minister’s message in translation is attached.)2

Mr. Von Lilienfeld commented that the Foreign Minister had come to this conclusion only after considerable discussion within the German Government. The Foreign Minister had decided that it would be preferable to have full identification of the Federal Republic’s allies with any peace initiative. The Foreign Minister had been concerned that the press might misconstrue a unilateral German initiative as lacking allied support. Mr. Von Lilienfeld added that Foreign Minister Schroeder hopes that the Ambassadorial Group can develop a satisfactory paper, perhaps within six to eight weeks. The Foreign Minister will want to talk to Secretary Rusk about this at The Hague.

Regarding the content of an allied initiative, Mr. Von Lilienfeld said the Germans realize that more will have to be put into the paper than would be included in a purely German initiative.

According to Mr. Von Lilienfeld, Foreign Minister Schroeder was also mindful of the US elections. The Foreign Minister felt, however, that an allied initiative could be explained to the press as a restatement of the US attitude on the German question and not as a sensational new initiative. Mr. Von Lilienfeld added that the Foreign Minister thinks the French [Page 71] will come along, once the importance to the Federal Republic of this initiative is made clear and when the French appreciate that the US and UK fully support it.

Secretary Rusk said that if the allies make a proposal along these lines to the Soviets, the Soviets might come back and say they have already made clear their position that there should be a peace settlement on the basis that there are two Germanies. The Soviets might then propose that both the allied proposal and the Soviet position be discussed. The Secretary asked whether the Federal Republic would be willing to see discussions with the Soviets conducted on that basis. He said the same problem would apply to the French. Mr. Von Lilienfeld said he did not know the answer to this question.

The Secretary commented that a number of far-reaching questions are involved, such as European security; it is essential to have clear positions on these matters. Mr. Von Lilienfeld suggested that it might be useful to work out the various points that should be included in an allied initiative and devise language to cover them.

Secretary Rusk commented that further consideration of the German proposal will in any case smoke out positions on the Oder-Neisse line.

The Secretary concluded that he would be talking to UK Foreign Secretary Butler about this general subject in the next few days and that he would look forward to seeing Foreign Minister Schroeder at The Hague.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL GER W–US. Confidential. Drafted by Finn and approved in S on May 5.↩
  2. The message, dated April 24, is not printed.↩