Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Foreign Minister of France Robert Schuman

Extracted text

OCR Page 1 of 5
253 CONFIRMATION COPY 274 : SERVICE" RECORDS OFFICE ARCHIVES "NATIONAL AND URGENT Sept. 26, 1949 SECSTATE WASHINGTON FOR ACTING SECRETAFY AND MR. RUSK FROM SECRETARY confes possible NO. 1188, Sept 26, 1:30 P.M. Mr. Schuman called on me at my request this morning at eleven o'clock end stayed about one-half hour. I told him that I had two matters which I should like to discus s with him. The first related to the devaluation of the German mark. I said that, since my talk with him on Friday afternoon, Mr. McCloy had been so constently at work upon the matter that he had had no sleep for seventy-two hours. He vag tsking a brosd and European vien of the matter. (Mr. Schuman interrupted to say thet he knew lif. McCloy DO well thet he was sure that this sas the view he vould take.) Mr. McCloy had succeeded in persuading the Germons to propose the trenty percent devaluation and in persuading the British to accept this devaluation. He had flown to Paris, where he now was, and had been unable to get French agreement, because the French insisted as a condition that the German coal price matter ahould be settled at the same time. I said that Mr. NcCloy believed, as did our Government, that this was a separate matter and should not be linked with the devaluation. As Mr. Schuman had learned from Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Snyder, and me in Washington our Government was opposed to all the dual prices - those proposed by the French and British, as well as those Distr: Battle DECLASSIFIED Raynor E. o. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and S(D) or (E) Hickerson mon DECRET 7-23-75 Dept. of State letter, Ang. 9,1973 By NLT- HC 2 NARS Date 4.2976