Editorial Note

In telegram 1175 from Moscow, March 31, Ambassador in the Soviet Union Charles E. Bohlen reported that Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov had handed him a 10-page note dealing with the possibility of concluding an All-European Security Treaty as put forth by the Soviet Union at the Berlin Conference of January 25 to February 18, 1954. Foreign Minister Molotov had also raised the possibility of Soviet membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Molotov told Bohlen that the Soviet Government would publish the note within 24 hours. (740.5/3–3154) The Soviet note regarding European security and the proposal of Soviet adherence to NATO is printed in full in Documents (R.I.I.A.) for 1954, pages 39–43. Documentation on the Berlin Conference is presented in volume VII.

The immediate United States response to the Soviet note was set forth in press release 169, March 31, printed in the Department of State Bulletin, April 12, 1954, page 562. Telegrams 3634 and 3640, from Paris, April 1; telegram 3673 from Paris, April 2; and telegram 4223 from London, April 2 indicated that the response of the French and United Kingdom Governments to the Soviet note paralleled the skepticism and suspicion expressed by the United States. Telegram 3673 also expressed the desire that a tripartite working group be established at Paris to draft a formal reply with April 20 tentatively set as a suitable target date for transmission to Moscow. The aforementioned telegrams are in file 740.5.