Office of the Historian

32. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, April 27, 1964, 4 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • German initiative

PARTICIPANTS

  • U.S.
    • The Secretary
    • Ambassador Thompson, S/AL
    • William C. Burdett, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European Affairs
    • Benjamin H. Read, Executive Secretary
    • Thomas M. Judd, EUR/BNA
  • UK
    • Foreign Secretary Butler
    • Lord Harlech, British Ambassador
    • Sir Harold Caccia, Permanent Undersecretary, Foreign Office
    • Denis A. Greenhill, British Minister
    • John Henderson, Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary

Continuing the conversation of the previous day,2 Mr. Butler asked what points he should mention to Schroeder. The Secretary then gave him the following five points:

1.
What is our primary objective to be—to bring about negotiations with the Soviets or to keep attention focused on German unification?
2.
If it is to bring about negotiations, are the Germans (and French) prepared to make important additions to the German draft?
3.
When would the Federal Government propose that a tripartite proposal for negotiations be made to the Soviets?
4.
How are the Soviets likely to respond to a tripartite proposal and how would the Federal Government propose that we meet this response?
5.
Electoral problems—U.S., UK and Germany.

This was followed by a general discussion of how the initiative should be handled and its prospects, covering the same ground gone over the previous day.

Mr. Butler said he would leave to us the question of Erhard going to Moscow. The Secretary said we would not want to make too much of a point of this with Schroeder. We wouldn’t want the Germans to think we were pressing.

  1. Source: Department of State, Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 330. Secret. Drafted by Judd and approved in S on May 2. The source text is marked “Part 1 of 8.” The meeting was held in the Secretary’s office.↩
  2. A memorandum of conversation is ibid., Central Files, POL 32–4 GER.↩