132. Editorial Note
In hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 14 and 16, Secretary of State Dulles and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Twining discussed the Berlin situation. The Secretary of State described to the Committee the discussions with the British, French, and West Germans on contingency planning and outlined the U.S. view on reunification of Germany. At the end of the sessions he approved the text of a bipartisan resolution that fully endorsed the position of the United States on Berlin as set forth in the NATO declaration of December 16, 1958 (see footnote 6, Document 122). For text of the bipartisan resolution and Dulles’ testimony to the Committee, see Executive Sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, volume XI, Washington, 1982, pages 5–14.
In brief testimony on the military aspects of the Berlin situation Twining stated that the United States felt it “must hold Berlin at all costs, even to general war,” and informed the Committee that the Joint Chiefs were at that very moment working on plans regarding Berlin. For text of his testimony, see ibid., page 41.