Office of the Historian

177. Telegram From Secretary of State Dulles to the Department of State0

Paris, December 17, 1958, 11 p.m.

Dulte 5. Eyes Only Acting Secretary for President from Secretary.

Dear Mr. President: This morning and most of the afternoon were devoted to the military aspect of NATO. It was on the whole a protestation of desire to support the present MC–70 program. However Duncan Sandys indicated that he did not think that it could be successfully accomplished and that therefore the military should be asked to establish “priorities”.1 This would of course mean that everything but the [Page 399] priorities would be sloughed off. I do not think that this idea will be accepted. On the whole the spirit was one of encouraging greater effort to meet the agreed goals.

After the military discussion ended about five p.m., we resumed political discussions. [12-½ lines of source text not declassified]

Lloyd saw De Gaulle this afternoon and told me that he got the impression which confirms my own that De Gaulle feels that the present NATO might as well be scrapped and a fresh start be made under triumvirate auspices.2

I had a private talk with Couve de Murville this morning from which I get the impression that none of De Gaulle’s advisers share his rather extreme views about the triumvirate and NATO.3 [3 lines of source text not declassified]

I greatly appreciated your message.4

Faithfully yours. Foster.

Dulles
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 740.5/12–1858. Secret.↩
  2. See Document 172.↩
  3. See Part 2, Documents 81 and 83.↩
  4. See Part 2, Document 81, footnote 10.↩
  5. See Part 2, Document 82, footnote 5.↩