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 infornal 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.

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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.

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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 ISA Administrator Stassen on April 28, and once more with Dulles on April 9-took place against an international background of great uncertainty brought in 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 ime 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.

Present: Senators Wiley (chairman), Smith of New Jersey, Hickenlooper, Tobey, Ferguson, George, Green, Sparkman, and Mansfield. Also present: Dr. Wilcox, Dr. Kalijarvi, Mr. O'Day, Mr. Marcy,, and Mr. Holt, of the committee staff.

A WELCOME TO MONSIEUR PLEVEN

The CHAIRMAN. All right, gentlemen.

We are extremely honored this morning to have with us around this table what we can call an old friend, one that we have known for a long time.

I must say, Monsieur Pleven, that we welcome you with a sincere welcome. First, we like you personally, as you know, and then, for some time, we have been engaged together as allies in three great wars, and then we had one little one that was almost a war between us on one occasion, but that naturally did not come to pass where it became very serious.

Now we are engaged in seeking to find answers to problems that almost put into the shade the problems of the previous years, so we are glad to have you over here.

We know what a great contribution you have made to the life of your own country and to the thinking of Europe, and we understand now you are here in no official capacity; you are here visiting this country; and, as I say, we are happy to have you come in and visit with us around this table.

We have considered very serious matters in the past, two wars in which we both participated, world wars, that were thrashed through around this table, of course.

This room is a room of memories where many of America's great men have gathered and discussed and arrived at solutions in relation to world affairs.

Now, we meet again, and we have the privilege and the honor of having you, sir, and we would like to know if it would be a fair question, to ask you whether you would be willing to counsel with us about these world affairs, whether you would give us the benefit of your interpretation of world facts and world situations; whether you will give us the benefit of what you think the solutions are, and also give us any other counsel that you think we of the West should have. I am sure that I speak on behalf of all the members of this committee when I say that we are indeed happy to have you in our midst.

If you desire to say a few words, you may, and then if you are willing, we will go around the table and ask you a few questions. We have a meeting at 11 o'clock this morning, but I see no real reason why we should necessarily have to go to the floor just on the

hour.

We have here, as you all know, a man of experience and a man of wisdom, and we might as well glean from him that direction and that wisdom that he possesses.

I might say that one of the lessons I learned as a boy from my father was when he said, "Wherever you are, son, among the mighty or the lowly, among the educated or uneducated, among the workmen

or the professions, if you are smart, that individual has got a pearl of wisdom for you."

So, sir, we are looking for pearls of wisdom, and if you have a few that you want to exchange on a good barter basis, we will see if we cannot assist you in that direction.

So, gentlemen, I suggest that we give Monsieur Pleven a hand

of welcome.

[Applause.]

STATEMENT OF HON. RENE PLEVEN, MINISTER OF DEFENSE, REPUBLIC OF FRANCE

Mr. PLEVEN. Mr. Chairman and Senators, I am very touched by the words of welcome which have just been pronounced by the chairman.

As he has said, I am not here at all in any official mission or in any negotiations of any sort. I was invited last December by the University of South Carolina which is celebrating the 150th anniversary of her foundation, by a group of men of French descent, one of the most famous of whom was a naturalist, of whom I have read in French history, that Benjamin Franklin used to say that all of the works were commissioned in France of your Constitution.

The university is making the celebration, and with a very fruitful and friendly gesture decided that it would celebrate by giving an honorary degree to the Frenchman of today, and I happen to have been selected.

I must tell you that I am very afraid in having to make a public address in English, and this opportunity I have to speak in your own language before you is to me, perhaps, the best rehearsal I will

have.

I have not prepared any statement. I understand that you would question me as a friend, and if I might say so, as a colleague, because, as you know, in France ministers are also elected by the people.

I represent a large part of a province that some of you know, maybe, called Brittany, which is the part in the west of France, which, I say, is closest to America geographically. It is a part where many sailors, many navigators, have come to America, and it is a part which is peopled by small landholders who can be like those who live in this country, but fortunately are not making any cheese, they make butter.

Really, it is a country where the ideas we are trying to put forward, like the idea of a united Europe, are exceedingly well received. I do not know whether it is on account of the proximity of the sea, but I do not find any difficulties in getting my constituents interested in those new ideas. In fact, I find that they are pushing us forward, and that they are much more forward than politicians are who are always afraid of possible reactions.

I, therefore, am happy to be here. You know what at the moment are my duties in France. I am Minister of Defense. Our organization is about the same as yours here. I have under me a secretary of war, of the navy, and of air; I am in charge of all the negotiations we have with you under the mutual security arrangements, and I am representing my country to the Atlantic Council. This allows me to follow very carefully what is going on.