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

471. Delegation Record of Meeting⁰

Geneva, July 23, 1959, 9:30 a.m.

SMALL STAFF MEETING

PRESENT

• The Secretary
• Mr. Merchant
• Mr. Reinhardt
• Mr. Berding
• Mr. Becker
• Mr. Smith
• Mr. Irwin
• Admiral Dudley
• Mr. Stimpson

Conference Tactics

1. Selwyn Lloyd has informed the Secretary that he wants to make a major speech today. The Secretary indicated that he would like to have a contingency statement available for his use.

Mr. Merchant thought it important that Vice President Nixon be up-to-date on the present status of the question of the future of our rights in Berlin when he sees Khrushchev, particularly in view of recent Khrushchev statements. To this end, Mr. Merchant has drafted a telegram which he said would be brought to the Secretary for approval. Mr. Merchant cautioned that we must not fall into the trap of accepting the idea that a separate Soviet-GDR peace treaty would wipe out our rights. We must continue to maintain that any unilateral action does not affect our rights. The Secretary said he strongly agreed. (See Cahto 164 attached.)¹

Mr. Merchant said he was also concerned with the danger of agreeing to a reciprocal freezing of actions concerning Berlin—a point which Selwyn Lloyd twice has mentioned. This would give the Soviets a convenient escape-hatch because almost any action we took relating to Germany could be used by them as a pretext for denouncing an agreement.

Mr. Smith and Mr. Irwin questioned the advisability of asking for a unilateral Soviet declaration that our rights would be maintained during a specified period. Mr. Irwin thought such a unilateral declaration unnecessary and dangerous, since it could leave the implication that our rights would be changed at the end of the specified period. In this connection, Mr. Becker called attention to the “valuable” statement by Couve de Murville yesterday that any agreement presupposed no unilateral action on either side. Couve indicated that a separate understanding on this point was unnecessary. Mr. Becker added that we want a reaffirmation of our rights, for otherwise our position legally, psychologically and politically will be weaker in several years. Mr. Irwin favored returning to the specific language in our June 16 proposal. Summing up, the Secretary said that we must be clear precisely what we want. We must stick to one formula and not be introducing variations.

Berlin Trip

2. Mr. Merchant said that a draft speech had been prepared for the Secretary’s use on his visit to Berlin Saturday. The Secretary said that he preferred that Mayor Brandt not ride on the plane with him from Geneva. He would rather devote time for a talk with Brandt while in Berlin.

Meeting with Selwyn Lloyd

3. The Secretary said that he would meet with Selwyn Lloyd tomorrow to discuss certain bilateral subjects.²

Press Developments

4. Mr. Berding said that Soviet spokesman Kharlamov was asked last night what would happen if agreement were reached on only one issue while parallel talks on Berlin and the all-German issue were being held, as Gromyko had proposed. Kharlamov reportedly replied that the two issues were “irrevocably linked.”

Mr. Berding noted that Newsweek did not give great play to the article alleging State-Defense differences in our negotiating position.³

Correspondents in Geneva have apparently been receiving from British sources indications that we are adopting different attitudes from the British—that we want to break off the talks while the British do not; that we react in a harder manner to Gromyko’s negotiating statements than the British; and that we got ourselves on a hook by stating that the conference was approaching its end unless Gromyko showed a better attitude. Mr. Berding said he was trying to find the source of these reports. The Secretary commented that Selwyn Lloyd always wanted to be optimistic. He added that Mr. Lloyd has behaved extremely well as regards tripartite cooperation here.

[Here follows discussion of an unrelated subject.]

0. Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1395. Secret. The meeting was held in Conference Room 209 of the Consulate General Annex.
1. Document 473.
2. Herter and Lloyd met at 4 p.m. to discuss atomic testing and disarmament. The U.S. Delegation reported on this meeting in Cahto 168 from Geneva, July 23. (Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF.1329)
3. Reference is to an article entitled “The Pentagon and Softness,” which appeared in Newsweek, July 22, 1959.