Dear Al: Your letter was a shocker--and I shall have to think it over for a day or so before giving you a real answer.1
I have no doubt whatsoever that in the event of your early retirement, you will have offers of many kinds--the problem will be how to make a selection that will bring to you and Grace, over the years, the greatest satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment.
I do not quarrel with your right to make a personal decision to retire. But I do have some misgivings as to what will happen to NATO.
Only a few days ago, at either a Security Council or Cabinet meeting, I took some ten minutes to give the assembled group a lecture on how necessary it was to bring about a closer integration among the countries of Western Europe, and how we must support NATO to the extent of our abilities, both in word and deed.2 I am convinced--and so told the group--that every step we make toward this integration is one further step toward the ultimate safety of the Western world and one additional insurance against a future war. The Steel Community is important not merely for itself, but because it helps also to establish a trend.3 I shall never doubt for a minute that if Western Europe could find the determination and ability to combine itself effectively into a federation, there would be automatically established a third great power complex in the world, one that by its history and by the character of its civilization would be dedicated to the same basic principles of freedom as are we.
The question that instantly flashes through my mind is, "Would your retirement from the scene indicate either a sense of defeatism on your part, or of indifference on ours?"
A corollary of course is, "What would be the acceptance among the European nations of any man we might name?"
I have great admiration for the two you have suggested and would not doubt that they would carry forward in the pattern you have established.4 But you have also established a reputation, a personal standing, among the capitals of Western Europe that it would take a long time for any other individual to achieve.
Finally, as to timing--if we here should agree to your early relief, there should instantly begin a series of private conversations to determine the acceptability of your successor, and a lot of other similar details.
These are some of the questions I shall be churning over in my mind for a day or so, but I will write to you early next week.5
My love to Grace, As ever
