208. Editorial Note
The Ministerial Meeting of the North Atlantic Council, held in Washington April 2–4, was attended by all Foreign Ministers and NATO Permanent Representatives of the 15 member countries, except for Foreign Ministers Averoff of Greece and Gudmundsson of Iceland. The U.S. representative to this meeting was Acting Secretary of State [Page 448] Christian A. Herter. A list of the principal members of the U.S. Delegation is printed in Department of State Bulletin, April 20, 1959, page 554.
An opening commemorative ceremony marking the tenth anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was held on the morning of April 2. Remarks on the occasion by President Eisenhower, Acting Secretary Herter, Honorary President of the Council Joseph M.A.H. Luns, and Paul-Henri Spaak are printed ibid., pages 543–553.
The most extensive body of documentation on this NATO Ministerial Meeting is in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1228–1239. Briefing papers are in CF 1228–1230. CF 1231 and 1236–1238 contain verbatim records of the sessions. No summary records for this Ministerial Meeting have been found. Miscellaneous documents are in CF 1232 and 1233. CF 1234 contains Orders of the Day. CF 1235 contains a set of memoranda of conversation among U.S. officials and between U.S. and foreign officials. A chronological record of meetings between April 2 and 4 is in CF 1236–1238. Copies of telegrams from the delegation are in CF 1239. Telegrams and documentation on this Ministerial Meeting are in Department of State, Central File 396.1-WA.
Many of the discussions during the Ministerial Meeting related to the problems of Berlin and Germany and the prospect of a forthcoming Foreign Ministers meeting with the Soviet Union in Geneva to discuss these matters. On March 31, Herter, Couve de Murville, and Lloyd met to review the Four-Power Working Group Report on Germany and Berlin and to consider the responsibility of the three Foreign Ministers to report to the NATO Foreign Ministers on contingency planning regarding the Berlin situation. A memorandum of the discussion (USDel/MC/15) is ibid., Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1235. Foreign Minister Von Brentano then joined the three. A memorandum of that discussion (USDel/MC/16) is ibid.
At 11 a.m. that day, Herter met with Couve de Murville to discuss several subjects. Memoranda of their conversation on negotiations with the Soviets on Germany and Berlin (USDel/MC/19), Spanish membership in NATO (USDel/MC/20), COCOM (USDel/MC/21), SEATO (USDel/MC/22), tripartite talks (USDel/MC/23), and representatives in the United States of the Algerian Front for National Liberation (US-Del/MC/24) are ibid. USDel/MC/23 is also printed in Part 2 as Document 106. At 2:30 p.m., Herter, Murphy, Merchant, and Deputy Director of the Office of British Commonwealth and Northern European Affairs William N. Dale met with Lloyd and his advisers. Memoranda of their conversation on the U.S. draft report to NAC on contingency planning (USDel/MC/5), the new French paper on contingency planning (USDel/MC/6), and a recent high-altitude flight by a U.S. military plane through the Berlin corridor (USDel/MC/7) are in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1235. At some point during the day, [Page 449] Douglas Dillon met with Lloyd to discuss military aspects of SEATO. A memorandum of their conversation (USDel/MC/4) is ibid.
On the morning of April 1, Herter, Couve de Murville, Lloyd, and Von Brentano met again. Memoranda of the morning session (USDel/MC/17) and the afternoon session (USDel/MC/18) are ibid. At 5:30 p.m., Eugene Schaus, Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, paid a courtesy call on Herter. A memorandum of their discussion (USDel/MC/3) is ibid. At 5:45 p.m., Herter met with Dutch Foreign Minister Luns. Memoranda of their discussion on Dutch views on the need for NATO solidarity (USDel/MC/1) and Indonesian nationalization of Dutch properties (USDel/MC/2) are ibid. USDel/MC/1 is printed as Document 209.
On Thursday, April 2, before the opening commemorative ceremony, which began at 10:10 a.m., Herter discussed Berlin with Spaak. A memorandum of their conversation (USDel/MC/8) is in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1235. Herter met separately with Italian Foreign Minister Pella to discuss Italian interest in summitry. A memorandum of that conversation (USDel/MC/9) is ibid. At 3:30 p.m., the first restricted session of the North Atlantic Council began, summarized in Topol 3313 to Paris, April 2 (ibid., Central Files, 396.1-WA/4–259), and circular telegram 1151 (see volume VIII, Document 252). At 6 p.m., Benson E.L. Timmons conducted a debriefing session on the day’s events.
On Friday, April 3, Herter and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs William M. Rountree met with Turkish Foreign Minister Fatin Rustu Zorlu to discuss the situation in Iran and Iraq. A memorandum of their conversation (USDel/MC/10) is in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1235 and 1237. The Ministerial Session, which began at 10 a.m., was reported in circular telegram 1149, April 3; a summary is printed in volume VIII, Document 253. At 1:30 p.m., Frederick E. Nolting, Jr., Deputy Representative to NATO, conducted a debriefing session. The afternoon Ministerial Session began at 3:30 p.m.; see Document 210. Fessenden held a debriefing session at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, April 4, Herter, Merchant, Bruce, and Hillenbrand met with Von Brentano and German Ambassador Wilhelm Grewe at 9 a.m. A memorandum of their conversation (USDel/MC/11) is in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1235 and 1238. The Ministerial Session, which began at 10 a.m., was briefly summarized in circular telegram 1152, April 4. (ibid., Central Files, 396.1-WA/4–458) At 11:45 a.m., Merchant, at the Department of State, received a telephone call from Carlo Alberto Straneo, Director of Political Affairs of the Italian Foreign Office, who argued for stronger language in a tripartite draft regarding Italian participation in the Foreign Ministers meeting at Geneva the following month. A summary of this conversation is in a [Page 450] memorandum from Merchant to Herter, April 4; ibid., Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1238. At 3 p.m., Herter and Lloyd and several of their assistants met. A memorandum of their conversation on the Geneva nuclear test negotiations (USDel/MC/12), the situation in Iraq (USDel/MC/13), and King Saud’s message on Iraq (USDel/MC/14) are ibid., CF 1235 and 1238.
The following documents are arranged in the order in which the meetings were held.