Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Western Europe and Canada, Volume VI, Part 2

751.5 MSP/8–952: Telegram

No. 535
The Chargé in France (Achilles) to the Department of State

secret
priority

Paris, August 9, 1952—2 p.m.

879. Cotel. Ref: Embtel 303, July 12, 1952;¹ Embtel 571, July 25, 1952.² Foll translation letter of Aug 8, 1952 sent by PriMin Pinay to the Amb and recd late last evening.

Begin text translation: The Fr Govt has noted with regret the contents of your letters of July 12³ and July 25, 1952,⁴ in reply to its aide-mémoire of May 6, 1952.⁵

The volume of offshore procurement orders which the US Govt is prepared to place in Fr does not make it possible to resolve the problem of Fr armament production.

The Fr Govt is obliged, in connection with the preparation of its 1953 budget, which cannot be postponed any longer, to accept the consequences of the sitn thus created.

Fr plans for 1953 will be built around a Fr contrib calculated on the bases recommended by the TCC and on an external contribution estimated at approx $650 mil, composed of $500 mil resulting from the Lisbon memorandum of understanding and $150 mil in special aid for the Indochina war in accordance with the agreements reached foll Mr. Letourneau’s discussions with the US Govt. These are the bases on which the Fr Govt is continuing the study of its defense plans. It wld obviously be extremely useful for it to have some indication of the proposed breakdown of external resources among “defense support” allotments, offshore procurement, and the various forms of aid for the Indochina war.

Moreover, the production of matériel to which your letter of July 12, 1952 makes reference, and for which your govt has declared itself ready to conclude contracts, will obviously not be included in these plans. Since no financing is provided in the Fr budget for this matériel. I shld like to stress the importance of prompt action in drawing up contracts therefor. End text translation.

In connection with above letter you may wish to refer to Paris Tomus 101.⁶

Achilles

1. Document 526.
2. Document 533.
3. For text of this letter, see Document 526.
4. For text of this letter, see Document 533.
5. For a summary of the French aide-mémoire, see Document 516.
6. This five-page telegram, dated Aug. 8, set forth the views of the MSA Mission in Paris concerning what the position of the United States should be with respect to fiscal year 1953 budgetary support aid for France. (MSA telegram files, lot W–130, “Paris Tomus”)