Office of the Historian

309. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, June 6, 1968, 1 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • NATO and US Forces in Europe

PARTICIPANTS

  • Foreign Minister of Denmark, Poul Hartling
  • Permanent Under Secretary, Danish Foreign Office, Paul Fischer
  • Ambassador of Denmark, Torben Ronne
  • The Secretary
  • Under Secretary of the Treasury Frederick Deming
  • Export-Import Bank Vice Chairman Walter Sauer
  • USIA Director Leonard Marks
  • Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy Affairs Carl Walske
  • Assistant Secretary John M. Leddy
  • Ambassador William Leonhart
  • Country Director George Mason Ingram

The Secretary pointed out that Europe is living with the “miracle” of substantial US troop deployments there at the same time that the United States is compelled to maintain large forces in Viet Nam. There is great pressure in the Senate for a reduction in the size of US forces in Europe. Many issues, such as our balance of payments and budget problems, which might to the Europeans appear unrelated, are directly linked to the question of the U.S. military presence in Europe. In this connection, the Secretary thanked the Foreign Minister for the Danish decision to purchase US Treasury securities, and said this was most helpful in countering the U.S. military balance of payments deficit with Denmark.

The Secretary said it would also be helpful if Denmark and Germany would join with the rest of the Fourteen to agree on the basis of NATO claims against France arising from the removal of NATO facilities and personnel from that country. The Secretary said that the exact timing of the approach to France could be decided later. The Foreign Minister said that he would look into the matter of NATO claims against France, and felt he could say that on this matter Denmark would not leave itself in an isolated position.

The Secretary noted that the question of mutual force reductions would be before the NATO Ministers in Reykjavik. He doubted that the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact colleagues would be particularly [Page 707] interested in holding discussions at this time. Events in Eastern Europe may mean that the Soviet Union will attach even greater importance to the maintenance of forces in East Germany. Also, the USSR would wish to avoid a charge, by Communist China, that it is permitting the US to release troops from Europe for service in Southeast Asia. However, NATO agreement that any troop reductions should be mutual will help the US hold the line against demands for a unilateral force reduction. The Foreign Minister responded with the observation that the US and Denmark are in agreement on the point that any force reductions should be mutual.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, DEF 6 US. Secret. Drafted by Ingram. The conversation was held in the Madison Room at the Department of State. The source text is labeled “Part II of IV.”↩