Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Ambassador of France Henri Bonnet, Gabriel Laethem, William E. Knight, and John E. Utter

Copy for s/s SECURITY INFORMATION 267 DEPARTMENT OF STATE DECLASSIFIED E. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or_(E) A18.9.9.1913 10-26-76 Memorandum of Conversation misitility. 520 Dept. of State letter, By NLT. He " NARS Date 11-29-76 DATE: September 5, 1952 SUBJECT: Tunisia. cof(?) PARTICIPANTS: The Secretary Ambassador Bonnet, French Embassy. Mr. van Laethem, First Secretary, French Embassy Mr. Knight - WE Mr. Utter - AF COPIES TO: s/s Amembassy, London NEA Amembassy, Paris UNA Amlegation, Tangier WE Amconsul, Rabat AF Amconsul, Tunis DRN Amconsul, Casablanca DRIF 1-1493 Mr. Bonnet referred to recent events in Tunisia and pointed out that the Bey and his Nationalist advisers remain faithful to the de- laying tactics which they already adopted sometime ago. He remarked that the Tunisians still have illusions regarding the results which might be expected from a United Nations intervention and they therefore are decided to avoid any agreement and to maintain a state of agitation in order to create a favorable climate to the Nationalists' abusive tirades in New York. He noted that these illusions with regard to the UN unfortunately stem from, among other things, the attitude of the United States in this matter: The remarks made by Mr. Gross in New York have in fact been interpreted as a change in the Department's position on two principal points. On the one hand, in speaking of "real representatives" of the people the Deputy Delegate of the United States gave the impression that he disapproved of the Baccouche experiment, despite the fact that it was undertaken with the formal and repeated assent of the Bey, and that he considered moreover Messrs. Chenik and Bourghiba as the real spokesmen of the Tunisian peopleo On the other hand, in expressing the hope that a #constructive solution" might result from the debates in New York, Mr. Gross appeared to recognize the right of the UN General Assembly not only to discuss the question substantively -SECURITY INFORMATION