167. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson1
Washington, September 16, 1966, 5:15
p.m.
Mr. President:
This is a probably reliable report of an Erhard backgrounder.
From all evidence, Erhard is a man with
a dilemma and no plan to get out of it.
[Page 408]
We must lead him out.
We are working hard—State, Treasury, Francis—to have a plan ready.
Attachment2
The following is the text of a [less than 1 line of
source text not declassified] report on off-the-record comments
made by Chancellor Erhard at a
press conference. [1–1/2 lines of source text not
declassified]
Begin report:
In an off-the-record press conference held in Bonn on September 8,
Chancellor Ludwig Erhard told a
small group of selected West German and West Berlin journalists that he
does not anticipate that the agenda for his forthcoming visit to
Washington will “provide enough time” for a discussion of German
involvement in a possible future MLF. In
any event, said the Chancellor, the West Germans would be willing to
discuss such a force only if the concept were completely different from
any that has thus far been advanced. In the meantime, Bonn will press
its case for a fight to defend German soil against atomic attacks by an
appeal to “international public opinion.”
When a further discussion of West German involvement in the Western
defense strategy centered upon the matter of offset payments, Erhard evinced a degree of firmness
bordering on the belligerent. He conceded that it behooves the Germans
to appreciate the balance of payments problems with which the U.S. is
confronted. Nonetheless, he said, U.S. Defense Secretary McNamara’s “demands” in the area of
offset payments are “completely arbitrary” and must be categorically
rejected. Asked whether he would display this attitude during his
forthcoming visit to Washington, the Chancellor replied
emphatically—“You can bet on that.”
(Source comment: Although it was clearly
understood by all the participants that the Chancellor was not to be
quoted, Erhard went to great pains
to re-emphasize this point on several occasions during the course of the
press conference.)
