111. Editorial Note
Following the completion of the Heads of Government meeting at Paris December 19–21, 1959 (see Documents 54–60), the United States, the United Kingdom, and France continued their consultations on problems relating to a summit meeting. Initially this coordination was done in the Washington Steering Committee (sometimes referred to as the Coordinating Committee or Group of Four), which in January 1960 established three working groups.
The first was the Working Group on Germany Including Berlin which met in Washington beginning January 25, and included delegations from the United States (Kohler, Head of Delegation), the United Kingdom (Hood, Head of Delegation), France (Laloy, Head of Delegation for the first two meetings and then Winckler), and the Federal Republic of Germany (Grewe, Head of Delegation). The Working Group met 16 times between January 25 and April 9 when it submitted a report [Page 270] to the Foreign Ministers. U.S. Delegation records of these meetings (II WWG/9.1–9.16) are in Department of State, EUR/SOV Files: Lot 64 D 291, Germany. The Working Group reported regularly on its progress to the North Atlantic Council, and accounts of these meetings with the Council and some additional documentation on the Working Group are ibid., Central Files 762.00 and 396.1–PA. For the report of the Working Group, see Document 115; for a memorandum of the Foreign Ministers’ discussion of the report, see Document 123.
The second group established was the Working Group on East-West Relations which began work in Paris on February 5. Composed of representatives from the United States (Lyon), the United Kingdom (Brimelow), France (Lucet), and the International Staff of NATO (Boeker), this Group was further divided into two subgroups. The first, which devoted its discussions to aid to underdeveloped countries and noninterference in the internal affairs of states, met at Paris, while the second, which considered contacts between East and West, met at London. No complete record of the meetings of these subgroups or the Working Group itself has been found, but telegraphic reports on their sessions, summaries of their reports to the North Atlantic Council, and drafts and final copies of their working papers are in Department of State, Central File 396.1–PA. For the final report of the Working Group, see Document 115; regarding the Foreign Ministers’ Consideration of the report, see Document 126.
The third group established was the Working Group on Disarmament. Composed of representatives from the United States (Eaton), the United Kingdom (Ormesby-Gore), France (Moch), Canada (Burns), and Italy (Martino), this Working Group began meeting daily in Washington on January 18. After 3 weeks, the deliberations of the Group were transferred to Geneva and coordinated with the participation of the five countries in the work of the Ten-Nation Disarmament Committee. Documentation on its activities is incomplete, but telegraphic reports on some of its meetings and other documentation relating to it are in Department of State, Central Files 396.1–PA, 396.1–WA, 396.12, 396.12–GE, and 396.12–WA. The report of the Working Group is printed as Document 112; for a memorandum of the Foreign Ministers’ discussion of the report, see Document 124.
With the establishment of the three Working Groups and under pressure from other NATO states to expand its composition, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France agreed to allow the Steering Committee to come to an end on February 2. Regarding the dissolution of the committee, see Document 73.