<--PREV Doc #1930  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1932 Document #1931; July 27, 1956 To Robert Anthony Eden Series: EM, AWF, International Series: Eden ; Category: Top secret The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVII - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part X: Cracks in the Alliance; May 1956 to September 1956 Chapter 20: Confronting "great risks"   Dear Anthony: Thank you for your recent message concerning the future of NATO, which reached me as I was about to leave for the meeting in Panama. I greatly appreciate your letting me know your thoughts on this matter. As you know, it is a subject in which I have the deepest personal interest.1 I know that you are aware of the profound and far-reaching political and military implications of the question of NATO defense policy, which must be considered most carefully in terms of their effect on the continuing unity and strength of our NATO alliance. We have to think about the effect on Germany and on our friend Adenauer.2 As Foster has told Roger Makins, we are giving our urgent attention to these matters and we hope to be ready about the middle of August to give you our views.3 I am confident that our exchange of views will help us to find the right solution. With warm regard, As ever 1 Eden had written Eisenhower to advocate a reformulation of NATO strategy. The Prime Minister believed that the Soviets had accepted thermonuclear deterrence--the idea that an attack on Western Europe would result in unacceptable damage to both sides. Eden also suggested that the public in the democracies recognized that the threat of war had receded because of the strength of deterrence. He anticipated "a growing reluctance" to maintain high levels of military spending. Nuclear deterrence, Eden argued, had fundamentally changed the purpose of NATO ground forces. These units should be reoriented, he said, and the troop levels in Germany reduced. The reductions should not be allowed to lead West Germans to question the Anglo-American commitment to their defense. But NATO's new military strategy should be "to deal with any local infiltration, to prevent external intimidation and to enable aggression to be identified as such." The forces should be able to impose "some delay on the progress of a Soviet land invasion," while that nation was being destroyed by thermonuclear weapons. In these regards, Eden's position was compatible with the basic strategies of Eisenhower's New Look defense policy (State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. IV, Western European Security and Integration, pp. 90-92). For developments see no. 1944; on Eisenhower's trip to Panama see no. 1925; on the New Look see no. 1233 and Soffer, "Matthew Bunker Ridgway." 2 Eisenhower added this sentence to the State Department draft (Hoover to Eisenhower, July 26, 1956, AWF/I: Eden). Eisenhower would continue to fear that German Chancellor Adenauer would interpret American and British troop reductions as a lessening of their commitment to defend the Federal Republic (State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. IV, Western European Security and Integration, p. 101). See also no. 1944. Senator Walter George would meet with Adenauer on September 28 to assure him that the United States did not anticipate any troop withdrawals from Germany (State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. IV, Western European Security and Integration, pp. 96-97). He had previously informed several NATO foreign ministers that the Administration would not withdraw any forces from Germany, though divisions might be streamlined in ways that permitted a reduction in manpower. Eisenhower endorsed this position (Dulles to Eisenhower, Oct. 1, 1956, Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda Series). 3 State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. IV, Western European Security and Integration, pp. 89-90. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Top secret To Robert Anthony Eden, 27 July 1956. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1931. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/1931.cfm <--PREV Doc #1930  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1932

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