800.48 FAA/12–3047: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
niact
5606. Bidault informs me that the Council of Ministers authorized him this morning to sign the bilateral foreign aid agreement in the form agreed upon between the Dept and Bonnet at Washington. Bidault showed me the exchanges of telegrams between him and Bonnet in that connection which indicate that original plans for signing the text set out in Deptel 4555, December 201 have been changed. Bidault asked me if the Italian agreement is to be signed at Rome and the Austrian at Vienna. He intimated that he would prefer to have the French agreement signed at Washington, preferring, I assume, not to sign it himself for purely internal political reasons.
As the Dept is aware, in the past we have had difficulty in getting the French press to give adequate coverage to aid received from the United States. If the agreement is signed at Washington it will be extremely difficult to get adequate coverage here (we had made plans in agreement with Foreign Office for unusual coverage by press, radio and newsreels).
Whether agreement is signed in Washington or here, I should appreciate being advised whether the substance of the statement which I had proposed to make, transmitted in mytel 5564, December 26,1 meets with the Dept’s approval. In either event I would appreciate receiving urgently text of revised draft annexes and letters to be exchanged as agreed upon in Washington.2
Bidault told me that the entire Cabinet and especially the Minister of Finance were most appreciative of the Dept’s sympathetic attitude [Page 825] in connection with the signing of this agreement and were especially grateful to the Acting Secretary of State for his understanding of the domestic political difficulties of the present French Government.