reunited with the Soviets, but for him in a Communist regime to make a trip to a capitalist country-and I certainly consider Britain in that role-I think is a very significant step towards this question of isolating the Soviets from their satellites.

[22]

General GRUENTHER. *** In the fashion of the Roman Empire. Now I follow that up by saying that I feel that one of our major elements of American policy should be to exploit any weaknesses that do develop or which appear to offer opportunities, and I think we should make a major effort in that field, but I don't think conditions as they are now give us any reason for hoping that the structure is just going to collapse.

[25]

Senator FERGUSON. They demanded all that territory from Finland. Senator SMITH. General, can you give us a word about Spain and France?

General GRUENTHER. Well, here is the situation, Senator. Actually we stay out of that element very much. The reason we stay out of it is this.

It carries with it a connotation of withdrawing to the Pyrenees, and we don't admit we are going to withdraw any place. We want the people that we work with to develop confidence.

The problem that we are facing is basically one of confidence, so that these fellows resume normal commercial relations, that investment rates, interest rates come down, a man puts money in the bank, and so forth.

If you give any connotation that there is going to be a withdrawal, they are not interested in the liberation period.

Senator SMITH. I am thinking more of the western end of the Mediterranean from the standpoint of the naval situation.

General GRUENTHER. Yes. Well, it has advantages. Now I am not trying to say that Spain doesn't have advantages. I am saying that first of all it is not a part of NATO. The reason we stay out of it is that we don't want to have the people of this part of the world thinking of the liberation concept.

They speculate that we are thinking of withdrawing. About every month or so out comes somebody speculating on some new line they claim we are going to withdraw to. We crack those every time because they are not true, and we have no plan of withdrawing to Spain.

Now I recognize that you are talking about the use of Spain from the standpoint of the Mediterranean, and of course Spain has use. I am not trying to say that it doesn't. It does have considerable use. Senator SMITH. We felt that about Turkey, Greece, Spain, and others. We were over there a year ago, over the whole area.

General GRUENTHER. Prioritywise of course, though, these are much closer to the scene of action, and therefore priority wise, why, they would be of a higher order.

Senator SPARKMAN. May I say this. We did feel that whereas Turkey and Greece logically belonged with NATO, Spain did not

under the situation.

Senator SMITH. Very definitely, I agree with that.

*

[Following the testimony of General Gruenther, the committee considered and ordered reported the nomination of William Howard Taft III to be Ambassador to Ireland. The committee adjourned at 12:20 p.m.]

MINUTES

THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1953

UNITED STATES SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met in executive session at 11 a.m. to hold an informal meeting with Dr. Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Present: Chairman Wiley, Senators Smith, Ferguson, Knowland, Green, Fulbright, Sparkman, Humphrey, and Mansfield.

Former Senator Connally was present at the meeting.

The following members of Chancellor Adenauer's party accompanied him: Dr. Heinz L. Krekeler, Charge d'Affaires, Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany; Prof. Walter Hallstein, State Secretary, Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Germany; Hans von Herwarth, Chief of Protocol, Federal Republic of Germany, and Heinz Weber, interpreter.

Mr. Nash, Protocol Office, Department of State was also present. For record of proceedings, see printed hearing.

The committee adjourned at 12 p.m.

(287)

MINUTES

FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 1953

UNITED STATES SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met in executive session at 11 a.m. in the committee

room.

Present: Chairman Wiley, Senators Smith, Ferguson, Knowland, George, Green, and Mansfield.

The NATO protocols which were the subject of hearings by the committee during the week, were discussed. It was agreed to defer a vote on these agreements until next week or early in the following week.

It was agreed to revise an earlier Senate document "Tensions in the Soviet Union" so that it might be brought up to date.

For the record of proceedings, see official transcript.

The committee adjourned at 11:40 a.m.

(288)

AN INFORMAL MEETING WITH RENE PLEVEN,

FRENCH MINISTER OF DEFENSE

[Editor's note: These middle and late April meetings of the Committee-here with Rene Pleven on April 13, later with Secretary Dulles on April 17, with MSA Administrator Stassen on April 28, and once more with Dulles on April 29-took place against an international background of great uncertainty brought on by the circumstance that both the United States and the Soviet Union now had new regimes in power. The Eisenhower administration at this point in time is still feeling its way toward fulfillment of campaign pledges to develop new approaches to defense and foreign assistance budgeting, settlement of the Korean war, European defense, and political relations with the U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe. But to this expected source of momentary uncertainty an unexpected new cause of disturbance was added by the death of the Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, on March 5. The weeks immediately following saw the launching of what Secretary Dulles quickly dubbed a Soviet "peace offensive" against the West, beginning with Soviet Premier Malenkov's funeral oration on March 9, which, in language already softened somewhat from what the West was used to hearing from Russian spokesmen, warned of the need to avoid world war, announced a policy of "peaceful coexistence and competition between nations," and promised the Russian people improved living standards at home with a consequent deemphasis of war-related industries. This was soon followed by other signs of relaxation at home, in the satellites, and abroad. March 30 brought a major breakthrough in Chou En-lai's offer to accept the U.N. position on the Korean prisoner-of-war exchange issue and his call for a resumption of armistice talks. The next day the Soviet Union agreed to accept Dag Hammarskjold's appointment as U.N. Secretary General, and let it be known through a different channel that it wanted to open discussions with the West on German reunification. One day later Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov pledged Soviet support of the Chinese initiative on Korea. Secretary Dulles viewed this sudden change of front on the part of Stalin's successors with great skepticism and would have preferred a policy of wait-and-see. President Eisenhower insisted on an immediate and positive response, however, and the result was his major foreign policy address before the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 16. In his speech, the President called for an honorable armistice in Korea and outlined a 5-point disarmament plan, suggesting that a global war on poverty might be waged with funds supplied in part by savings from weapons cutbacks. The uncertainties remained, however, continuing to confront the Committee and its witnesses with a puzzling set of questions: Should the Soviet and Chinese peace initiatives be taken as signaling real changes in Communist bloc policy and objectives? What impact would the Communist "peace offensive" have in Europe, especially on the rearmament effort, now at mid-course, or the prospects for ratification of EDC, on which turned the hope of integrating the vital resources of West Germany into the structure of European defense? What terms could the United Nations hope to get in Korea? How was the Korean struggle and the prospects for settlement to be related to the war in Indochina? At the moment there were many more questions than answers.]

MONDAY, APRIL 13, 1953

UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, D.C.

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:40 a.m., in the Foreign Relations Committee Room, U.S. Capitol, Senator Alexander Wiley (chairman) presiding.