Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XIII, Western Europe Region

91. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in France¹

Washington, June 21, 1965, 9:19 p.m.

6571. For Ambassador from Under Secretary. Ref: Embtel 7218.² I do not contemplate imprudence.

We had a useful first conversation with Lord Hood with regard to NATO problems and he expressed a willingness to meet me in Paris for further conversation. I hope to have exploratory and totally non-committal conversations with other representatives who may come from other capitals for the meeting of the NATO Council. I shall also tell Couve, if I see him, that we are of course looking forward to any proposals the French Government may put forward regarding the revision of NATO although I understand the government is not expecting to make such moves until next year.

The position of the United States Government at the moment is that we do not have definitively formulated views but are simply soliciting the suggestions of other governments in a very preliminary manner.

I do not expect this matter to get into the public domain to any great extent. In the NATO session we held last March we were successful in maintaining a high degree of security.³ If, however, the French Government hears rumors that we may be talking about the Alliance, tant pis.

On basis our talks today with UK, German and Italian Embassies here and with Brosio through Finletter, probability is that NATO meeting will take place on July 13 instead of July 7; bilaterals would be scheduled for July 12 and possibly morning of 14th. This might enable participation of Schroeder and Fanfani at NATO discussions, which important in its own right. I have definite impression that both Foreign Ministers wish handle bilaterals themselves.

Rusk

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, DEF 4 NATO. Confidential; Limdis. Drafted and approved by Ball.
2. In telegram 7218, June 21, received in the Department of State at 10:50 a.m., Bohlen “seriously” hoped that Ball would be “very prudent” in his bilateral discussions on the state of the Alliance during his presentation to the North Atlantic Council in July. The Ambassador also expressed his feeling that the United States might not be far enough along in its own thinking to have profitable discussions. (Ibid.)
3. Documentation on Ball’s presentation to the North Atlantic Council March 31–April 1 on various international problems is ibid., Conference Files: Lot 66 D 347, CF 2484.