Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Berlin Crisis, 1958–1959, Volume VIII

324. Delegation Record of Meeting⁰

Geneva, May 22, 1959, 9:30 a.m.

SMALL STAFF MEETING

PRESENT

• The Secretary
• Secretary McElroy
• Mr. Merchant
• Ambassador Thompson
• Ambassador Bruce
• Mr. Berding
• Mr. Becker
• Mr. Wilcox
• Mr. Irwin
• Mr. Krebs
• Mr. Reinhardt
• Mr. Smith
• Mr. Sullivan

Conversation with Gromyko

1. Secretary McElroy mentioned three subjects he had discussed last night with Gromyko at the Secretary’s dinner.¹ Gromyko spoke of Soviet concern about German rearmament, especially weapons of great destructive power. On disarmament, Mr. McElroy said he had noted to Gromyko that unless there were mutual trust there would be little progress. When Gromyko said he felt it was necessary for someone to break the circle of mistrust, Mr. McElroy suggested that the Russians make the first move. Finally, Gromyko indicated preoccupation with U.S. bases which he said showed aggressive U.S. intent against the Soviet Union. The Secretary asked Mr. McElroy whether Gromyko had developed the discussion on disarmament. Mr. McElroy added that Gromyko had indicated that he was not opposed to inspections with limits. Mr. McElroy thought that of the three subjects discussed, disarmament was the most likely field for further discussion with the Russians.

Conference Tactics

2. Mr. Merchant noted that there are two speeches scheduled for today, one by the Secretary on the security aspects of the Western Plan and one by Couve de Murville on Berlin. Mr. Merchant said that he thought we should not hand out the Secretary’s speech to other Western delegations very much in advance of the time of delivery to avoid last minute “nit-picks”.

Site of German Presidential Election

3. The Secretary said we should make proposals at the meeting of the four Western Foreign Ministers today in respect to the proposed holding of the German presidential election in West Berlin. Ambassador Bruce thought it should not be held in Berlin but that the West should not so go on record. In response to the Secretary’s inquiry, Ambassador Bruce said that the British share our views.

Soviet Charges of West German Militarism

4. Ambassador Bruce said that he thought it important for us to refute East German and Soviet charges that West Germany has a highly developed military apparatus. In reply to an inquiry by the Secretary, Mr. Bundy said that the figures of Soviet troops in East Germany could be made public without compromising sources. The Secretary asked that a contrast should be drawn up on troop strengths in West and East Germany. Mr. Smith thought that since Western military strength in West Germany and Soviet troop strength in East Germany would generally balance out, the contrast should be confined to West German and East German forces.

Nuclear Test Talks

5. Ambassador Thompson reported that Tsarapkin told him yesterday² that we must hurry to reach agreement since the French are about to set off a nuclear explosion. The Secretary noted that during his talk with Lloyd yesterday³ agreement had been reached that (1) the Soviets would have to accept our memorandum on the terms of reference for a meeting of the technical representatives or there would be no further steps to arrange a meeting before the conference reconvenes; and (2) that progress in the test suspension talks alone would not be justification for holding a Summit meeting. Mr. Wilcox said that Tsarapkin seems to be extremely eager to conclude a test suspension agreement. The Secretary observed that we have an ally in Tsarapkin in our efforts to keep the test talks out of the Foreign Ministers’ Conference.

Nuclear Cooperation with France

6. The Secretary cited a Department telegram (Tosec 92)⁴ suggesting that he raise with Couve de Murville the possibility of future nuclear cooperation with France. The Department wants to make sure the French understand that our legal requirement for receiving restricted data, namely, “substantial progress in weapons development,” is not fulfilled simply by exploding one bomb. He indicated that we should think over our nuclear cooperation policy toward France.

Separability of Western Peace Plan

7. The Secretary said he thought that the only separable parts of the Peace Plan were Berlin and disarmament. If some progress were made on disarmament, this might be enough to justify a Summit meeting. Regarding Berlin, if we could isolate areas of agreement and disagreement, this might be a suitable subject for discussion at the Summit. In connection with Berlin, Ambassador Thompson mentioned that Mr. Becker is preparing two papers on our Berlin proposals which will spell out how they will work in the event we should be asked to do so by Gromyko.

Private Talks with the Russians

8. The Secretary indicated that since we do not seem to be able to make any progress at the Conference table, we would have to consider private sessions. How to set up these talks is, he said, a major procedural question which would have to be discussed by the four Western Foreign Ministers. He noted that one difficulty was that the Soviets are not keen on formalizing informal discussions.

High Altitude Flights in Berlin Corridor

9. Mr. Merchant called attention to a telegram from the Department, being a draft reply to the Soviet note of April 29 on high altitude flights in the Berlin corridor.⁵ The draft essentially restates our position as contained, in an earlier note. After some discussion, the Secretary thought we would have to study the matter carefully before commenting on the proposed reply.

Press Reaction to Conference

10. Mr. Berding said he thought that the Secretary’s brief rebuttal statement at the conclusion of Thursday’s session had worked very well, receiving wide coverage both here and in the States. He called attention to an editorial in the New York Times today in support of the Western Plan which he thought was evidence that we had successfully got the plan across to the public. He noted that USIA is planning a campaign to spread information about the Western Plan.

Secretary’s Dinner for Foreign Ministers

11. Mr. Berding reported that the French, in briefing the press on the Secretary’s dinner for the Foreign Ministers on Thursday, had said that there was a recapitulation of Conference discussions at the dinner. Mr. Berding said that Baraduc had explained to him that Couve de Murville said he saw no harm in saying this to the press. It was noted that the French had violated the agreement that the press would only be told that the dinner was purely a courtesy affair.

Views of Mayor Brandt on Berlin

12. The Secretary said he thought it would be important to keep posted on the views of Mayor Brandt on Berlin and to stay in close contact with him.

Harriman’s Request to go to Communist China

13. Mr. Becker, after meeting earlier with the Secretary, stated that we intend to issue Governor Harriman a passport valid for travel to Communist China. He said that we agree with the Department that Harriman is a bona fide newsman and thus comes within present U.S. policy. Mr. Becker said that the phrasing of the press release on the matter was very important and should be carefully worded.

Approaches by Unrecognized Governments

14. Mr. Becker noted that yesterday he had been approached by a representative of the Indonesian rebel government and by the Counselor of the DDR office in Geneva.

0. Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1355. Secret. The meeting was held in Conference Room 209 of the Consulate General Annex.
1. See Document 323.
2. No further record of this conversation has been found.
3. A brief memorandum of Herter’s conversation with Lloyd at 3 p.m. on May 21, US/MC/50, at which this agreement was reached, is in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1338.
4. Dated May 20. (Ibid., CF 1319)
5. The draft note was transmitted in Tosec 96, May 21. (Ibid.) The note under reference was delivered to the Embassy in Moscow on April 28 and a translation transmitted in telegram 2160 from Moscow, April 29. (Ibid., Central Files, 762B.5411/4–1959)