Presidential Papers, Doc#971 Notes, 10 July 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #971; July 10, 1954
Notes
Series: EM, AWF, Dulles-Herter Series
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part V: Maintaining "a united defense"; April 1954 to August 1954
Chapter 11: The "men in the Kremlin are not to be trusted"

 

Notes to discuss with Foster Dulles 7/10/54: Mrs. Luce tells me that in her negotiations for bases in Italy, her understanding is that at all cost she must secure permission from the Italian Government. This she thinks puts America at a very great disadvantage in that the Italians practically feel that they hold a blackmailing position against us.1 Personally, I do not feel that bases in Italy are vital at all, and I think the importance of having them there diminishes every day. If she were able to give the Italians the intimation and information that we were losing interest in the thing, the situation might change.

Anyway, that applies to all our foreign relations. In selling the United States the idea that "we cannot live alone" we have also sold the Europeans the idea that we are completely dependent upon their cooperative attitude.

In a sense this is, of course, true, but if there is not full recognition of a common need and because of this the cooperative effort breaks down, it is equally true that they will feel the pinch long before we will.

As a consequence, I wonder whether we should not--by clandestine methods if necessary--let it be known that we are considering alternatives to all plans that are not progressing favorably and in support of which enthusiastic cooperation has not been given.2

I want to get the latest information on Trieste.3

1 Eisenhower wrote these notes in preparation for a meeting with the Secretary of State. A copy of this document appears in State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. VIII, Eastern Europe; Soviet Union; Eastern Mediterranean, p. 471 and (with deletions) in Eisenhower, Mandate for Change, pp. 416-17. Ambassador to Italy Clare Boothe Luce had been in Washington for a series of appointments with government officials since July 5 and had met with Eisenhower for one-half hour on July 9 (State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. VI, Western Europe and Canada, pt. 2, pp. 1686-87).

Ongoing negotiations regarding NATO facilities in Italy for U.S. use had been impeded by the inability to reach a solution to the Trieste question. Ambassador Luce had recommended to the State Department that military facilities negotiations be broken off and that she continue her attempts to convince the Italian government that linking all internal and external matters to the Trieste issue was harmful to Italy's best interests. Luce said that in her July 9 meeting with Eisenhower she had suggested that Italy be given a deadline, to be approved by the Defense Department, for signing a draft facilities agreement, and that if the Italians did not agree, the United States "would look elsewhere for our defense arrangements" (State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. VIII, Eastern Europe; Soviet Union; Eastern Mediterranean, pp. 443, 472). For background on the Trieste issue see nos. 529 and 915.

2 Dulles would tell Eisenhower that he was unaware of the basis for Mrs. Luce's concern but that he "would look into the matter" (AWF/D-H; see also Note, July 10, 1954, AWF/D). On August 7 Dulles would further inform Eisenhower that "in an atmosphere free from pressure," State and Defense Department officials and the U.S. Embassy in Rome had been discussing the text of an agreement with the Italian government. Prime Minister Scelba had said he would sign this understanding twenty-four hours after a Trieste settlement had been reached. "Should he fail to keep his word," Dulles concluded, "we do not intend then or thereafter to exert pressure on him but to follow the general line with him that we are not attempting to force on Italy facilities and protection which is in their own interest, and in the absence of Italian desire for these arrangements we will consider redeployment of the forces in question and arrangements elsewhere" (State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. VIII, Eastern Europe; Soviet Union; Eastern Mediterranean, p. 489).

3 Dulles had informed Eisenhower on June 3 of the successful completion of U.S.-U.K. negotiations with Yugoslavia held in London from February 2 to May 31 (see no. 915). Negotiations with Italy had begun on June 1. At the June 9 NSC meeting Secretary Dulles had described the settlement reached in London as very fair but said that the Italians could not decide whether the new agreement was a "triumph or a disaster." Its acceptance was enmeshed with Italian domestic politics, Dulles stated, and Scelba could only maintain his bare majority in Parliament by emphasizing Italian nationalism (NSC meeting minutes, June 10, 1954, AWF/NSC). Ambassador Luce had written to the Department of State on June 18 that although Scelba's original reaction was unfavorable, he was reconsidering and may have decided to accept the London agreement with some assurances that the final solution would indicate, "at least for the record, that Italians were able to obtain some favorable concessions from [the] original proposals in order to `prove' that [the] settlement was not a US/UK or Yugo diktat." She wrote again on the twenty-sixth that a Senate confidence vote three days earlier had cleared the air and that Scelba "in a much stronger parliamentary situation" hoped to reach an accord by July 15 (State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. VIII, Eastern Europe; Soviet Union; Eastern Mediterranean, pp. 460, 463-64). For developments see nos. 1045 and 1047.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Notes, 10 July 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 971. 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/971.cfm

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