Office of the Historian

23. Letter From Secretary of State Rusk to the British Ambassador (Harlech)1

Washington, April 4, 1964.

Dear David:

In your letter of March 262 you asked how our ideas are shaping up with regard to the German reunification plan and whether I have given any more thought to the question of letting Schroeder know in a private talk sometime before the NATO Ministerial meeting, or through a personal emissary, how we feel about his proposal.

I do not expect to have an opportunity to talk to Schroeder between now and the NATO Ministerial meetings. However, when George McGhee was here, I asked him to let Schroeder know, in low-key fashion, that we simply do not feel that the German proposals are good enough. As a result of the recent Ambassadorial Group meetings I think the Germans now understand that for an initiative to be acceptable to us they will have to inject more substance into it than they already have. McGhee’s talk will also serve to make our attitude clear. As far as I know he has not yet talked with Schroeder.

As Bill Tyler told Denis Greenhill,3 I am considering writing a letter to Schroeder but believe it would be best to await the outcome of the next Ambassadorial Group meeting before deciding. At that time, we should have a better idea of how far the Germans will be prepared to go on the question of European security.

Please tell Rab Butler for me that I appreciate his willingness to make the necessary arrangements for a four power talk at the time of the meetings in The Hague. Depending upon developments in the Ambassadorial Group, it will probably be useful to have a good discussion on the German initiative.

With warm regards,

Sincerely,

Dean 4
  1. Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204. Secret Drafted by Stuart H. McIntyre on April 2.↩
  2. Not printed. (Ibid.)↩
  3. No record of this conversation was found.↩
  4. Printed from a copy that indicates Rusk signed the original.↩