330.13/4–2853
The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador (Bonnet)1
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency the Ambassador of the French Republic and has the honor to refer to the oral démarche made April 8, 1953 by M. Henri Ruffin, First Secretary of the Embassy of the French Republic. M. Ruffin requested the formal views of the United States Government concerning the draft proposals on disarmament previously submitted confidentially to the United States Mission to the United Nations by M. Jules Moch on May 27, 1952, the outlines of which M. Moch introduced in the United Nations Disarmament Commission on June 24, 1952.2 The United States Mission to the United Nations, on June 12, 1952, transmitted informally to the Delegation of France to the United Nations the comments of the Department of [Page 1145] State concerning M. Moch’s draft treaty, as attached hereto.3 The Department of State desires to reaffirm these views, believing that the objections to M. Moch’s proposals contained therein are as fully applicable at the present as they were when first made to the Delegation of France to the United Nations.
The Department of State is cognizant of the desire of the Foreign Office for continuation of the past close cooperation between the United Nations Delegations of France, the United Kingdom and the United States. The United States Mission to the United Nations will, of course, consult with the Delegation of France and with other friendly delegations represented on the Disarmament Commission, in order to ensure that all possible progress is made in the Commission’s consideration of the tasks with which it is charged. Whether or not there is any progress of this nature depends largely upon the attitude demonstrated by the Delegation of the Soviet Union. As President Eisenhower said in his speech of April 16, 1953,4 the United States welcomes any honest act of peace on the part of the USSR; cares nothing for mere rhetoric; and seeks “sincerity of peaceful purpose attested by deeds”.
This Government hopes that the Government of France will continue its friendly and close cooperation in the Disarmament Commission, to the mutual benefit of both countries.