Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

OFFICE OF the THE SECRETARY OF STATE DECLASSIFIED WASHINGTON E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 State Dept. Guidelines, March 6, 1982 October 28, 1952 By DEB NLT, Date 9410-85 TOP SECRET SECURITY INFORMATION SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS THE SAAR After informing the UK Foreign Office of the breakdown of Franco-German efforts to reach an agreed statement on the Saar, the British High Commissioner in Germany expressed the view that the next step may have to be US-UK intervention in Bonn and Paris. However, before any such intervention is undertaken the UK official believes reactions in Germany and France to the news of the breakdown should be assessed. Embassy London states Foreign Secretary Eden is inclined to agree, although the matter will receive further con- sideration. To avoid any misunderstanding, the British Embassy in Paris has informed the French that the UK could not be a guarantor of a Franco-German agreement on the Saar unless the UK knew specifically to what it was committed. Meanwhile, the Saar's President, Hoffman, has informed our Consulate in Strasbourg that he plans to ask Foreign Minister Schuman whether, now that the French Foreign Office has withdrawn temporarily from the negotiations, he could not be permitted to negotiate in- formally and indirectly with Adenauer, feeling that more progress can be made that way than through the German Chancellor's of- ficial advisors. FRANCE Our Embassy in Paris reports that the fact President Auriol took the occasion of one of the most important public gatherings in some time, the dedication of a dam which was financed to a considerable extent by US aid, to defend current French attitudes and in so doing to implicitly criticize the US, indicates the extent to which the recent con- troversy has permeated French thinking and the lengths to which the present French Government is willing to go to assure domestic political support. As President, Auriol is nominally above poli- tics and has acquired a reputation as spokesman for the nation as a whole, as well as for Franco-American friendship. The speech is the latest development in the series which started with the at- tack on Foreign Minister Schuman and was followed in quick suc- cession with the Government's decision on the handling of the TOP SECRET SECURITY INFORMATION