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

Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation, lot 64 D 199, “September 1954”

No. 787
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of Western European Affairs (Jones)

confidential

Washington, September 25, 1954.

• Subject: Call of Italian Minister of Budget

Participants:

• The Secretary
• Ambassador Tarchiani, Italian Embassy
• The Italian Minister of the Budget, Sig. Ezio Vanoni
• Mr. John Wesley Jones, WE

The Italian Ambassador called on the Secretary this morning to present the Italian Minister of the Budget, Sig. Vanoni.¹ Sig. Vanoni expressed in Italian his appreciation of the Secretary’s thoughtfulness in providing a few minutes for an interview on the day of the Secretary’s departure for the London Nine-Power Conference.² Sig. Vanoni continued that, to save the Secretary’s time, he would like to present certain points of view of the Italian Government for the Secretary’s information and consideration, and had asked the Italian Ambassador to translate for him. Sig. Tarchiani translated these remarks and then immediately proceeded to make the following points himself, presumably in the name of the Minister but without giving the latter an opportunity to express himself in Italian first:

1. The Italian government is faithful to a policy of European integration and in support of this policy wishes to see German sovereignty restored, Germany rearmed, and a member of NATO.

2. Regarding the Trieste affair, the Italian and Yugoslav positions seem to be very near and it is hoped that there will be a settlement within a few days. The problem for the Italian Government, which is in a weak Parliamentary position, is to present the settlement in the most favorable light to the Parliament and the people. The Secretary interposed at this moment that he believed a Trieste settlement could be presented to the Italian people as a real achievement on the part of the Government. The Ambassador expressed his Government’s appreciation for the American initiative in sending Mr. Murphy to Belgrade and breaking the deadlock which had heretofore existed over the territorial aspects of the Trieste issue.

3. The Italian Government has a plan to combat communism through an economic program.³ This would require some assistance from abroad and the Ambassador expressed the hope that the US would be sympathetic to such a plan. At this point the Minister interrupted to explain that the economic plan which his Government is proposing was being presented to the OEEC and that he had already had a very encouraging discussion about this proposal with the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Butler, at the current Bank and Fund meetings. Mr. Butler, he pointed out, was the President of the Council of the OEEC. The Minister continued that international participation in, and support for, this Italian economic proposal would relieve the Government of its dependence upon the communist-dominated labor union, CGIL, and make it difficult for the communists to employ their usual obstructionist tactics to such a constructive scheme. Finally, the Minister asked that the Secretary, in his conversations in London next week, put in a word of support for the “Vanoni Plan” with the British who already seemed favorably disposed to cooperate through the OEEC.

The Secretary expressed his pleasure at having the opportunity to meet the Minister of the Budget and at the Minister’s presence in Washington where he had afforded the various economic and financial members of the US cabinet an opportunity to discuss directly Italy’s economic and financial problems with him. He said that we would all listen with great attention and respect to what the Minister had to say because his well-known political stand against communism and his recognized leadership in the economic field well merited such attention and respect.⁴

1. A memorandum of conversation, dated Sept. 24, between Ferrari-Aggradi, Iaschi, Italian Embassy officials, and Department of State officials, is in Italian Desk files, lot 57 D 56, “601—United States”. Ferrari-Aggradi and Iaschi were members of the official party accompanying Minister of the Budget Ezio Vanoni to the United States. The Vanoni party arrived in New York on Sept. 16 and came to Washington on Sept. 20. They left Washington on Sept. 28 after attending the International Monetary Fund meetings and briefly visited Detroit and Chicago before returning to Italy on Oct. 2.
2. Reference is to the meeting in London, Sept. 28–Oct. 3, of the Foreign Ministers of Belgium, Canada, France, the German Federal Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States to draft arrangements for the restoration of German sovereignty and the association of Germany with a Western defense system. For documentation, see vol. v, Part 2, pp. 1294 ff.
3. Reference is to the “Vanoni Plan,” a 10-year economic development program for Italy. The plan was described and analyzed in Tousfo A–65, July 27, to which was also attached an informal memorandum the Embassy had received from Vanoni discussing the first stage of the plan. (865.00/7–2754)
4. In a letter of Oct. 4 to Durbrow, Jones summarized the results of the discussion in Washington involving Vanoni and his party and stated that it was difficult to imagine how the Secretary of State had found time to meet with Vanoni since he was so occupied with the U.N. meetings in New York and with the London Conference. Jones also commented on the planning for Vanoni’s trip to Detroit and Chicago upon his departure from Washington and said, in this regard, that there had been a most fruitful and pleasant cooperation among the Department of State, the Italian Embassy, and C. D. Jackson’s office. The State Department had provided an interpreter for Vanoni’s trip to these cities and had arranged in Detroit for a visit and luncheon at the Ford Motor Co. with Henry Ford II as host. While in Detroit Vanoni had also met with Walter Reuther of the United Automobile Workers and with other industrial and business leaders. Jones also indicated that the arrangements for the visit to Chicago had been made by the President of the Pure Oil Corporation “upon suggestion of Mr. Luce or Mr. Jackson”. (Italian Desk files, lot 57 D 56, “131—Italians in U.S.”)