856d.00/12–1548
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Director of the Office of European Affairs (Hickerson)
I called Mr. Steere at The Hague and said that I was prompted by his recent telegrams to make the following points: (a) That the Department attaches great importance to the letter from Hatta explaining the Republic’s position on the issues which caused the breakdown of recent negotiations, and that we consider the letter provides an impelling reason for the Dutch to resume negotiations; (b) With reference to the Embassy’s recent telegrams concerning the importance [Page 563] of maintaining good US-Netherlands relations, I said that we of course have every reason to wish to continue close and cordial relations, but that we viewed the Indonesian issue as an important factor not only in US-Dutch relations but in our general policy, and we urgently desired a peaceful settlement of the Indonesian dispute. I said that this was for Mr. Steere’s information and guidance, and that we did not desire any specific action on his part at this time.
Mr. Steere called my attention to paragraph 4 of The Hague’s telegram No. 834 of December 8, and said that other messages on this subject were en route. The paragraph referred to reads as follows:
“Again it [i.e. the Netherlands Cabinet]1 might fall because of internal dissensions as it is strange collection of bedfellows, composed as it is of elements from all social structures and of all religious and political concepts, except communism.”
- Brackets appear in the original text.↩