Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson, the Foreign Minister of Iceland, and Others

Copy 2 of 11 E. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 7-23-373 S(D) or (E DECLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT OF STATE 515 of State letter, Aug. 9, Dept. NLT- HC , NARS Date 4-2076 Memorandum of Conversation 196 Bar - 77 DATE: STORET March 14, 1949 SUBJECT: treated PARTICIPANTS: Mr. Bjarni Benediktsson, Foreign Minister of Iceland Mr. Eysteinn Jonsson, Leader, Progressive Party Mr. Emil Jonsson, Leader, Social Democratic Party Mr. Thor Thors, Minister of Iceland Mr. Hans Anderson, Iceland Foreign office COPIES TO: The Secretary XXXXXXX Mr. Charles E. Bohlen, Counselor Mr. John D. Hickerson, Director, EUR Mr. Benjamin M. Hulley, Chief, NOE Copies to: s/s; 0; EUR; WE; NOE; American Legation, Reykjavik; NME 1-1493 I welcomed the Foreign Minister and his colleagues and said I was happy that their visit gave us an opportunity to discuss frankly any questions that they wanted to raise in connection wi th the North Atlantic Pact. Mr. Benediktsson said he and his colleagues, representing the three parties of the coalition govern- ment had come to find out what would be the best relation- ship to the Pact for Iceland with its unbroken tradition of peace, its lack of defense forces, and its strong aversion to war and to having foreign troops on Icelandic soil in peacetime. I said I wanted to make it quite clear at the outset that any decision reached in this matter would be entirely an Icelandic one without any suggestion of pressure or persuasion from us. I then outlined the general principles of several Articles of the Pact, pointing out that it is a Pact of cooperative association for defense, that its ob jectives are peaceful, and I explained the meaning of mutual aid and self-defense in Article III and the under- taking in Article V. I pointed out that we were well aware of the special situation in Iceland which has no defense forces and does not desire foreign defense forces on its territory in peacetime. I said we had no desire to change this situation. The