Office of the Historian

182. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, October 13, 1966, 6:45 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • The President’s Speech

PARTICIPANTS

  • Georg von Lilienfeld, Minister, German Embassy
  • Berndt von Staden, Counselor, German Embassy
  • Secretary Rusk
  • Alfred Puhan, Country Director for Germany

Von Lilienfeld said Carstens had also asked him to present the following German observations on the President’s speech of October 7 before the editorial writers in New York.2

The German Foreign Office had noted the President’s speech with great interest and regarded it as significant. They welcomed the President’s avowal of American responsibilities vis-à-vis Europe and the emphasis he placed on the interdependence of the Atlantic Alliance as well as the affirmation of the partnership between the United States and a united Europe. The Germans also welcomed the desire, expressed by the President, to arrive at an understanding with the East. The Germans noted with satisfaction that President Johnson adhered to the view that peace in Europe was not assured as long as the cruel division of Germany was not removed. The Germans, finally, welcomed the remarks by the President that troop levels in Europe would be determined by the assessment of the threat and that a reduction of Western troops would be made contingent upon a lowering of troop levels on the side of the Soviets.

Von Lilienfeld reported that Carstens wished to point out, however, that he had noted in a number of places deviations from formulas used in the past. He did not want to exaggerate the significance of these new formulations, but could not help but express some concern that the Soviets might conclude from these new formulations that we had decided to opt for the status quo in Europe. Carstens referred to three subjects in this connection.

The first concerned the German question. While noting with satisfaction that the reunification of Germany remained, as before, the objective [Page 443] of American policy, the Germans had got the impression from the speech that the reunification of Germany was seen by the United States no longer as an issue which would be realized simultaneously with the relaxation of tensions but was viewed rather as the end result of the détente. The Germans noted further in this connection that the President’s speech did not touch upon Four-Power responsibility for German reunification nor the right of self-determination on the part of the Germans. They noted also the absence of the formulation that the Federal Republic was the sole representative of all Germans.

In connection with the frontiers, Carstens wished to point out that the American Government until now had consistently repeated the view that the final determination of Germany’s borders would have to await a peace settlement involving all of Germany. Carstens noted that it was not possible to tell from the remarks of the President whether this continued to be the view of the American Government.

The third German concern entailed the question of priorities in security matters. The Germans noted that the confrontation between the Warsaw and Atlantic Pacts could only be overcome on the basis of the status quo, if progress in resolving the German question was not made a condition. This gave the Germans concern. In the German view the two were irrevocably linked.

The Secretary promised to study the German observations and in due time give them our comments. In the meantime he wished to make the following immediate comments:

1.
He thought the President had placed unusual emphasis on German reunification.
2.
On the question of the reunification of Germany and the relaxation of tensions between East and West, he noted that we were simply agreeing with our European friends who have been telling us all along that German reunification cannot be obtained until after a détente had been achieved. He noted in this connection that Europeans generally, including the Germans, were out in front of us in seeking relations with the Eastern Europeans.

On the subject of what was omitted from the speech, the Secretary simply wished to note that the President had made a short speech which could not be complete in every respect. He reiterated however that he would give a more detailed reply to the Germans in the near future.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL GER W–US. Confidential. Drafted by Puhan on October 14 and approved in S on October 19. The meeting was held in the Secretary’s office. The source text is marked “Part 2 of 2.”↩
  2. For text of the speech, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966, Book II, pp. 1125–1130.↩