2. Proceedings of the Session

Editorial Note

The Seventh Session of the North Atlantic Council, which began meeting in Ottawa on Saturday, September 15, was the first Council Meeting of 1951, following by 9 months the previous session in Brussels in December 1950. Many of the Cabinet Ministers who attended these meetings were also involved in the ceremonies surrounding the signing of the Treaty of Peace with Japan in San Francisco, September 4–8; the meetings of the Boards of the International Bank and the International Monetary Fund, in Washington, September 10–14; and the bipartite and tripartite Foreign Ministers Meeting in Washington, September 10–14.

More than 30 Ministers were present for the 5 days of meetings. The leading representatives of the NATO countries were as follows:

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Belgium Paul van Zeeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Jean van Houtte, Minister of Finance
Colonel E. R. V. G. A. DeGreef, Minister of Defense
Andre de Staercke. Council Deputy
Canada Lester B. Pearson, Secretary of State for External Affairs
Brooke Claxton, Minister of National Defense
Douglas C. Abbott, Minister of Finance
L. Dana Wilgress, Council Deputy
Denmark Ole Bjørn Kraft, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Thorkil Kristensen, Minister of Finance
Erhard J. C. Quistgaard, Chief of Defense
V. de Steensen-Leth, Council Deputy
France Robert Schuman, Minister of Foreign Affairs
René Mayer, Minister of Finance
Georges Bidault, Minister of National Defense
Hervé Alphand, Council Deputy
Iceland Bjarni Benediktsson, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Gunnlauger Pétursson, Council Deputy
Italy Alcide De Gasperi, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs
Giuseppe Pella, Minister of the Budget
Randolfo Pacciardi, Minister of Defense
Alberto Rossi-Longhi, Council Deputy
Luxembourg Pierre Dupong, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Labor
Victor H. J. Bodson, Minister of Justice, Public Works, Transportation and Touring
André Clasen, Council Deputy
Netherlands Dirk U. Stikker, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Cornelius Staf, Minister for Defense
Pieter Lieftinck, Minister of Finance
Johannes R. M. van den Brink, Minister of Economic Affairs
Jonkheer A. W. L. Tjarda van Starkenborgh-Stachouwer, Council Deputy
Norway Halvard Lange, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Jens Hauge. Minister of Defense
Eric Brofoss, Minister of Trade
Johann Georg Raider, Minister in the Norwegian Foreign Office
Dag Bryn, Council Deputy
Portugal Joao Pinto da Costa Leite, Minister of the Presidency
Paulo Cunha, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ruy Ennes Ulrich, Council Deputy
United Kingdom Herbert S. Morrison, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Hugh Todd Gaitskell, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Emanuel Shinwell, Minister of Defense
Frederick R. Hoyer-Millar, Council Deputy
United States1 Dean Acheson, Secretary of State
John W. Snyder. Secretary of the Treasury
William C. Foster, Administrator for Economic Cooperation
Frank H. Pace. Jr., Secretary of the Army
Charles M. Spofford, Council Deputy

In the compilation that follows, the telegraphic reports of all the Council meetings are printed with the exception of the first formal opening ceremony. The main indicator series of telegrams sent from Ottawa during the Council meetings were Sectos and Tosecs which were normally sent from and to members of the United States Delegation. Deptos and Todeps are the series indicators for telegrams from and to the United States Deputy Representative on the North Atlantic Council. The United States minutes of the Council meetings are not printed but are in the Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 92 and CF 93, and the CFM files, lot M–88, boxes 159 and 253. Both of these files also contain the preparatory papers which were written as background papers for the United States Delegation by a Steering Group within the Department of State as well as other miscellaneous supporting materials.

An attempt has been made in this compilation to note all the formal actions of the Council including a reference to the Council Document involved. The texts of the most important resolutions approved by the Council are included as they were transmitted to the Department of State in telegrams.

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[363] Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Perkins)

Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 93


[364] Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Perkins)

Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 93


[365] Memorandum by the Chargé in Canada (Bliss) to the Ambassador at Large (Jessup)

CFM files, lot M–88, box 253


[368] The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Bradley) to the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe (Eisenhower)

Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 092.2 North Atlantic Treaty


[374] The Secretary of State to the President

740.5/9–1951: Telegram


[375] Memorandum of Conversation, by Ridgway B. Knight of the Office of European Regional Affairs

Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 93


[381] Communiqué of the Seventh Session of the North Atlantic Council

Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 93

  1. The entire U.S. Delegation is listed in the Department of State Bulletin, September 24, 1951, p. 514.