740.5/1–1452
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Perkins)1
Subject:
- European Defense Community
Participants:
- Ambassador Wrong, Canadian Embassy
- Assistant Secretary Perkins, EUR
- Mr. H. Raynor, Director, BNA
Ambassador Wrong called on me this noon at his request. He opened the conversation by stating that Mr. Stikker, through the Netherlands Ambassador in Ottawa, had recently asked Mr. Pearson for his views on the question of European Defense Community and its relationship to NATO. Ambassador Wrong stated that Mr. Pearson had taken this opportunity to send a personal message to Mr. Stikker on the 11th. He read this message to me. It was excellent and stressed the overriding importance of NATO and that European Defense Community should be fitted into the larger Atlantic Community pattern. It made the point rather strongly that the EDC concept and the Atlantic concept were supplemental rather than competitive and that in his opinion U.S. and, in fact, U.K. continued participation in the Atlantic framework and interest in Europe would be furthered by the completion of the EDC project. It also made the point strongly that Pearson did not feel the U.K. would actually participate in EDC or other like organizations but would be prepared to cooperate with them. The message also suggested to Stikker the desirability of having the NATO and EDC headquarters in the same place in order to be a cohesive influence.
- This memorandum was jointly drafted by Perkins and Raynor (EUR/BNA).↩