Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

DEPARTMENT OF STATE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON July 7, 1947 SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS EUROPEAN Both Bevin and Bidault have expressed their very RECOVERY great appreciation for Secretary Marshall's mes- sage of support concerning their efforts to work out a broad program for European recovery. At the same time Bevin has expressed his concern over (a) the question of whether the US will provide in time the assistance which Europe so desperately needs, (b) the possibility that the Soviets will use every possi- ble method to create internal trouble in western Europe, and (c) the very critical situation in France, which he feels needs "imme- diate and temporary assistance to assure stability until such time as Congress acts on a broader program. Top French Foreign Office officials have ex- pressed the view that "Europe now stands at the crossroads as a result of the breakdown in the Three Power conference last week. They advance the opinion, in which our Embassy in Moscow concurs, that the Soviet Union acted as it did through a conviction that the US will undergo a profound depression within the next 18 months which will put an end to American aid for European recon- struction. Embassy Moscow adds that there can be no doubt that this line is effective outside the USSR. UNITED Ambassador Douglas reports that the effect of KINGDOM the Paris Conference has been to unite the British Labor Party on foreign policy and that the coun- try is now solidly behind Bevin. Molotov's threat actually served to stiffen British resistance. Bevin has formally accepted our invitation to hold joint US-UK discussions in Washington in the near future con- cerning the European coal problem, particularly with reference to production in the Ruhr, and indicated that he might attend these discussions personally. DECLASSIFIED E.O. 12066, Sec. 3-402 State Dept. Guideline, June 12, 1979 By NLT-WC NARS, Date 11-12-to