145. Memorandum of Conversation Between President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles0
[Here follows discussion of an unrelated matter.]
2. We then turned to the matter of the British thinking on the Berlin situation. The President went over with me the draft of my “thinking-out-loud” piece.1 He had made a number of verbal suggestions, all of which I told him I thought improved the paper.
The President asked whether it would be useful for him to get into the act at this point. I said I was inclined to think it might be better to await the more precise formulation of our views in the light of the recommendations of the JCS.2 I said our own position was not yet clarified in practical detail.
I referred to the desirability of my having a talk with Macmillan, Adenauer and possibly De Gaulle or Couve de Murville in the near future. I thought it particularly desirable that this immediately follow the formation of our position and precede Macmillan’s proposed trip to Moscow.3
[Page 292]The President heartily concurred. He suggested that I should take the Columbine and go over for the weekend. I told him I had to give a speech in New York on Saturday night. He then suggested leaving after my speech for London.
I thanked him for the offer of the Columbine and said we would promptly explore the useful dates which would require sounding out of our Embassies.
[Here follows discussion of an unrelated matter.]
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Memoranda of Conversations. Top Secret; Personal and Private. Drafted by Dulles.↩
- The draft has not been identified further; for the final paper, see Document 146.↩
- See footnote 8, Document 122.↩
- Macmillan was scheduled to visit the Soviet Union February 21–March 3.↩