202. Letter From Chancellor Erhard to President Johnson1
Dear Mr. President,
Thank your very much for your letter of 25 August 1966.2 I have noted with great interest your proposal that the problem of the armed forces, deployment and sharing of the foreign exchange burden, which will have to be met from the middle of next year, be examined at a conference of the Ministers of Foreign Affaires, Defence and Finance of the United States, Germany and Great Britain. I, too, am greatly concerned about this and connected political and military problems. They are of considerable importance to the Alliance, whose preservation and consolidation is the common aim of our two governments.
In any event the conference you proposed will have to be thoroughly prepared and its possible effect on the Alliance carefully examined. I suggest that, during my forthcoming visit to Washington, we include your proposal in a comprehensive discussion of the future of the Alliance and long-term planning for the defence of Europe.
The proposals to be submitted by the Anglo-German mixed commission, whose work will conclude in mid-October with a meeting of the competent German and British Ministers, will also have a bearing on the solution to the problem of off-setting the foreign exchange cost of Allied [Page 465] troops stationed on the continent, and hence on any examination of this problem by the three powers.
Your advice and support will be of especial value to me in the present difficult situation. I am looking forward to my visit to Washington with great pleasure, with cordial good wishes, yours sincerely,
- Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 67 D 272. Geheim (Secret); Exdis.↩
- See footnote 2, Document 198.↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates Erhard signed the original. A typed note below Erhard’s signature reads: “Original des Schreiben folgt mit naechstem Kurier.”↩