145. Telegram From the Delegation to the North Atlantic Council Ministerial Meeting to the Department of State0
Secto 52. For the Under Secretary. Paris for Ambassador Houghton. As you will have seen from Secto 481 I pressed Couve very hard to find out exactly in what terms French proposed to raise at Summit control of nuclear vehicles and in particular whether De Gaulle intended to make a proposal or only suggest this area an appropriate one for examination and study. Couve was not explicit in his replies to my questioning. At end of meeting I had an opportunity to talk to him alone and made perfectly clear the risks inherent. I told him that if at the Summit De Gaulle in effect proposed the ban on strategic means of delivery of nuclear weapons when he was the only one of the four who lacked their possession he would make himself a laughing stock before the world. Couve [Page 376] took all this in surprisingly good spirit and acknowledged the validity of my point. At tripartite dinner later in the evening he gave no evidence of resentment over my frankness. There is no doubt in my mind that French intransigence at Geneva is directly related to De Gaulle’s concept of acting independently of his allies in raising at the Summit matters on which he has acquired fixed ideas.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396. 1–IS/5–260. Secret; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Merchant. Repeated to Paris.↩
- Document 142.↩