100. Editorial Note
On March 12, President de Gaulle wrote President Eisenhower to stress the importance of Western solidarity in standing up to the Soviet leaders on the question of Berlin and Germany. In his March 14 reply, Eisenhower praised de Gaulle for his analysis of the artificial crisis created by the Soviets concerning Berlin. Regarding the tripartite talks in [Page 188] Washington, Eisenhower wrote: “I believe, as you expressed last month to Secretary Dulles in Paris, that these talks have already begun to serve a useful purpose. We, for our part, are disposed to continue these talks, and I am gratified that a date has been set early next month for the next meetings in the series.” Both letters are printed in volume VIII, Documents 215 and 223.
On March 19, Eisenhower wrote de Gaulle about France’s decision to withdraw its Mediterranean fleet from NATO. For text of this letter, see Part 1, Document 204.