UNITED STATES DELEGATION TO THE SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Memorandum of Conversation
November 11, 1952 The Waldorf New York, N. Y. (Typed November 12, 1952)
SUBJECT: NATO Meeting in December
PARTICIPANTS: H. E. Mr. Ole Bjorn Kraft, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denmark The Secretary of State Ward P. Allen
COPIES TO: Mr. Taylor Reference Mr. Ross Department of State: Mr. Popper Distribution to be determined by S/S Mr. Ward Allen SYG
Mr. Kraft called to seek U.S. views on the question as to whether the meeting should be held December 15 as planned. He reported that he had discussed the matter earlier with Mr. Eden, who is desirous of having the meeting if Lord Ismay and Mr. Kraft believe there are enough materials to work on. Mr. Kraft has cabled Lord Ismay this afternoon and will be discussing it with him on the 27th of November. In Mr. Kraft's view it would be very desirable to proceed with the meeting. Even if the annual review is not complete, there can be a broad report and there are a number of other matters which could profitably be discussed, such as the Standing Group paper, plans for the coming year, the German question, and a survey of how the new organizational set-up under Lord Ismay is working. He felt that many countries would be very disappointed if no meeting were held, pointing out that it had been decided to hold three meetings a year and so far this year only one has been held. He recognized that there may be a difficulty for the U.S. Government as a result of the election and desired to know how important a consideration this is in determining U. S. attitude toward the meeting.
The Secretary replied that in our view the essential question as to whether we should proceed with the meeting is whether the annual review will be in such shape as to offer reasonable prospect of a degree of successful planning on the basis of it. We should be able, at least, to plan for '53 and perhaps a little of '54. The Secretary stated he understands that while our officials in Washington and Paris were pessimistic last week as to prospects of success, the situation looks more hopeful now but we cannot have a firm view until about the end of this week. While we recognize
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that many countries will be disappointed if the meeting is not held, we feel the disappointment would be even greater if the meeting proved to be no more meaningful or productive than the previous ones at Ottawa and Rome. So far as the U.S. change of administration is concerned, we do not think that need stand in the way and are perfectly willing to go ahead provided the situation of the annual review offers some prospect of a successful meeting. We will not, of course, be able to answer all questions which the others may want to raise as to what the future administration is going to do, but we do not think the meeting should be postponed just because of the results of the U.S. election. In response to Mr. Kraft's question, the Secretary stated he did not know whether the incoming administration would send a liaison officer with the U.S. delegation to the meeting but he would of course welcome such a step if the Republicans desired to do so.
WPAllen:bw