69. Memorandum of a Conversation, White House, Washington, August 30, 1956, 3:03-3:40 p.m.1
SUBJECT
- President’s Reception of German Parliamentary Leaders
PARTICIPANTS
- The President
- Mr. Jacob D. Beam, EUR
- Mrs. Lejins, State Department Interpreter
- Dr. Heinrich Krone, Parliamentary Chairman of the German Christian Democratic Union
- Mr. Dollinger, Deputy Chairman of the Christian Social Union
- Mr. Albrecht von Kessel, German Minister
The President received Dr Krone and Mr. Dollinger for about half an hour, both parties speaking through an interpreter.
Dr. Krone summarized the favorable impressions of his trip across the US. He mentioned the talks he had had with Mr. Sherman Adams and Secretary Dulles2 which were of a very reassuring nature regarding US strategic intentions in Europe. An election would be held next year in Germany and it was important there be a satisfactory understanding of the US position. Dr. Krone thanked the President for receiving him and Mr. Dollinger, saying this would help support Chancellor Adenauer’s policies.
The President said he was glad to know this, since he especially admired Dr. Adenauer as a great European and a great statesman. The President stressed that the first objective of the US was peace and he could not imagine how any intelligent German—and most of them were intelligent—could choose the East against the West.
Dr. Krone agreed but observed that in German politics it was not so much a matter of a choice between the two—since almost every German was on the side of the West—but a choice of means to achieve objectives. The Social Democratic opposition were not Communists but they pursued their objectives along lines which supported the Russians.
The President said he understood Dr. Krone’s remarks but it was clear that the actions by some Germans could be interpreted as helping the Communists.
The President then said he would like to talk more about exchange programs generally, like the one on which Dr. Krone and Mr. [Page 153] Dollinger had visited the US. During the war he had subscribed to the idea of universal German guilt, but shortly after the war his acquaintance with German individuals quickly persuaded him that Germans were about like other people and many of them had been the victims of letting one man seize power. He mentioned that he and General Clay had been criticized by some Americans who had wished to “pastoralize” Germany and flood the Ruhr mines.
Continuing, the President pointed out the Communists made Russians lie and falsify in the interests of the state. He on the other hand greatly favored real understanding through travel and friendship. The only private benefit to which he had agreed to lend his name was the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship Program which enabled young foreign businessmen and executives to visit and work here for a year or so. The President said there was some advantage in having more mature people take part in an exchange, since they had an interest in returning to homes and jobs in their own country, as was not always so in the case of students.
The interview ended on a friendly exchange concerning the role played by persons of German origin in this country and the President asked Dr. Krone to transmit his regards to Chancellor Adenauer.
- Source: Department of State, EUR Files: Lot 59 D 233, Memos of Conversation 1956–7. Limited Official use. Drafted by Beam. The time of the meeting is taken from the President’s Appointment Calendar. (Eisenhower Library, President’s Daily Appointments)↩
- The memorandum of Krone’s conversation with Dulles is supra. No record of a conversation with Adams has been found in Department of State files.↩