Office of the Historian

211. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Germany0

Washington, August 20, 1963, 1:04 p.m.

522. Eyes only for Ambassador. Following, for immediate delivery, is text President’s reply to Chancellor’s letter of August 17:1

“Dear Mr. Chancellor:

Thank you for your thoughtful letter of August 17. I am pleased that we are moving together on the test ban treaty.

I am sure that the Federal Republic’s decision to sign the test ban will be to its advantage. As I said in my letter of August 6,2 not only has every precaution been taken to avoid giving the Soviet Zone regime the political recognition and prestige it does not have and will not have; but the deposit of your instrument of ratification with all three depositories will demonstrate in an unmistakable way that the Federal Republic can and does speak for the German people.

Secretary Rusk has talked to me about his visit to Bonn. I thank you for the courtesy extended him and for your frank and cordial conversations [Page 574] with him. He said you were concerned about the possible effect of the reorganization of our Berlin garrison. As he pointed out, this action is but a part of a world-wide reorganization of the United States Army. A small reduction in the total number of U.S. troops in Berlin will result, but more United States soldiers will remain there than were present prior to August 1961. In addition, our Berlin garrison will now have additional equipment and weapons which will increase its combat capability and make it a substantially stronger force than it was.

I fully agree that it is important that our Governments maintain the closest contact on future problems of mutual interest. In this regard, we are about to begin consultations on issues affecting East-West negotiations in the NATO Council and the quadripartite Ambassadorial Group. I believe that our officials should maintain, in addition, close bilateral contacts both in Washington and Bonn.

Recently I looked into the way your Government was consulted on the Berlin garrison reorganization and on other matters. While there was contact between our officials regarding the reorganization plan, the consultation was not done in sufficient time. I have instructed our officers to make a special effort to maintain the closest cohesion in the foreign affairs of our two countries and I hope there will be no more problems of this kind. If there are, please let me know immediately.

Sincerely, John F. Kennedy”

Ball
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, DEF 18–4. Secret; Operational Immediate. The source text bears the notation “Text rec’d from White House.”↩
  2. See footnote 3, Document 205.↩
  3. Document 205.↩