240. Memorandum of Conversation0
NATO MINISTERIAL MEETING
Paris, December 16–18, 1960
PARTICIPANTS
- Ambassador Wilhelm Grewe, German Ambassador to the U.S.
- Mr. Martin J. Hillenbrand, U.S. Delegation, NATO
SUBJECT
- Adenauer’s Attitude and Health; Berlin Problems
Ambassador Grewe said that he had seen Chancellor Adenauer on December 15 and had found him apparently fully recovered from his recent illness. He was back at work in his office. His doctors had evidently been concerned about the possibility of a more serious illness and had taken the precaution of confining him to his house for some ten days. However, it did not seem as if the Chancellor were going to have the kind of protracted bout with the flu and related ailments which he had on several previous occasions and which had reduced his effectiveness for a lengthy period of time. Ambassador Grewe observed that the Chancellor had expressed his pleasure over the announcement of the appointment of Dean Rusk as the new American Secretary of State. He noted that the German Embassy in Washington had, of course, fully reported on potential candidates for various American cabinet positions, including estimates of their views and characteristics. He was happy to be able to say that the Chancellor seemed to have shed any concerns he might have had about “undesirable” policy changes which might be introduced by a new Secretary of State.
Ambassador Grewe went on to say that it was now definitely established that he would remain in Washington for a further period of time. The flurry of speculation about his replacement which had arisen in November had actually been a belated reflection of the consideration which had been given in October to certain changes in Ambassadorial assignments. The idea of making these changes had now been dropped. In fact, Ambassador Blankenhorn, who had been mentioned as the probable appointee to the Washington post, wanted to stay in Paris. To [Page 625] begin with, having just been restored to his position after a leave of absence which extended more than a year, he felt that it would be a discourtesy to the French Government for him to leave shortly thereafter. Moreover, he was aware that his arrival in Washington might be greeted by some criticism, particularly from certain elements of the press.
With reference to the Interzonal Trade talks which were going on in Berlin, Ambassador Grewe said he had taken the position in Bonn that the Federal Government should insist on formal revocation of the offending GDR decrees before renewing the Trade Agreement. Anything less than this, he felt would be insufficient in view of the unfortunate psychological impression which retention of the decrees would create, despite any tacit understanding which might be reached that they would not be executed. Mr. Hillenbrand observed that our experience over the past ten years in Berlin had more than once involved tacit understandings with the Soviets that they would not carry out threatened actions or stated policies. The whole Western position in Berlin, apart from the firm legal foundations on which it rested, was based upon such mutual acquiescence in certain limitations beyond which each side knew it could not go. We had expressed our views on the Trade Agreement discussions in some detail to the Federal authorities, and were encouraged by the recent developments reported by Leopold. As Foreign Minister Von Brentano had said earlier in the afternoon, the West seemed to be stronger than it had suspected in its ability to deter and to achieve desired results by the imposition of or even threat of economic countermeasures.1
Referring to the discussions of December 15 between Secretary Anderson, Under Secretary Dillon, Assistant Secretary Irwin and Ambassador Dowling with Economic Minister Erhard and State Secretary von Scherpenberg, Ambassador Grewe said that he had the impression that while this discussion had not advanced things very far in the concrete it had brought the two sides a little closer together in principle. Mr. Hillenbrand noted that discussions would presumably continue both in Bonn and Washington in the forthcoming weeks, but that he was not aware precisely what the next contemplated action would be. This was undoubtedly something to which Under Secretary Dillon was giving his thought. Ambassador Grewe said he hoped that something specific could be achieved in the way of an agreement on debt repayment and vested assets prior to January 20. He felt this was desirable for psychological reasons, and explained that this would avert the criticism and the generally unfavorable American attitude towards German [Page 626] “miserliness” which he anticipated would develop despite what he described as initial concentration of American press criticism on the State-Treasury initiative.
Ambassador Grewe said he was leaving for Washington tomorrow morning. He did not consider it necessary to stay for the formal ending of the NATO meeting. He commented on the general lack of press interest in the session for what he described as “understandable reasons”.
- Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 559, CF 1802. Confidential. No drafting information appears on the source text. The conversation took place at the Hotel Bristol.↩
- A memorandum of Hillenbrand’s conversation with Brentano at 4 p.m. (US/MC/16) is in Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 559, CF 1802.↩