March 20, 1959

Professor Merle Fainsod
Littauer M-18
Harvard

Dear Merle:

When you asked me last evening about my specific plans for
Germany I confined myself to proposals which I had already made
publicly for reasons which I will tell you when we meet. For your
own private information, my thought has gone somewhat beyond what I
outlined yesterday.

I still believe that we should take immediately those steps
unilaterally to contribute to European security, such as a guarantee
by NATO of the Oder-Neisse line. I also believe that a really flexible
approach on disengagement or any other plan presupposes a real community
in the West and not simply the formal phrases which pass for it at the
moment. This is why I would like to see an EDC for atomic weapons.

On the issue of Germany itself, I do not believe that we
should separate the issue of security from that of unification. If we
cannot stand for national self-determination and the freedom of peoples,
we should give up any pretense of conducting policy on the basis of
principle. It would seem to me that those who are so much concerned
about the uncommitted should agree that we can hardly be considered
intransigent for advocating the freedom of peoples to determine their
own fate. It has therefore occurred to me that we might make the
following proposals. We should not demand that the Soviets abdicate
in East Germany since this would seem an insupportable humiliation,
but we could propose the following plan, taking at face value the
Soviet claim that two social systems have grown up in Germany.

a. A plebiscite supervised by the UN to be held after one year in both East and West Germany, confined to the issue of which social system -- that of the Federal Republic or that of the PDR -- the people prefer.

b. In this plebiscite each region should vote as a unit. That is, the majority in both the Federal Republic and the PDR would decide its future direction. (This is to avoid the argument that West Germany has a built-in majority.)

Professor Merle Fainsod

2.

March 20, 1959

c. The section of Germany which changes its social system would have to leave whatever military alliance it belongs to (that is, the Federal Republic would have to leave NATO and the PDR would have to leave the Warsaw Pact).

d. The part of Germany which changes sides would become neutralized under UN control. No military installations of any kind and only minimum police forces would be permitted in that territory.

e. The alliance (that is the Warsaw Pact or NATO) which loses its member (that is the PDR or Federal Republic) would in addition be given the right to establish a system of ground inspection in the part of Germany which remains part of a military system to make certain that it cannot be used as a base.

f. Both sides would be given overlapping radar systems to provide against the danger of surprise attack.

g. If East Germany opts for its present system, the United States will be prepared to recognize the PDR and to advocate a German Confederation, provided suitable access to West Berlin were guaranteed.

h. During the year when the plebiscite is being prepared, a German ministry composed equally of officials from the Federal Republic and the PDR would be formed to advise the UN commission on free elections.

i. Free movement of people between the two zones would be guaranteed during this interim.

I do not for a moment believe that the Soviets would accept such a plan, but it does seem to me to meet many of their legitimate security concerns, and it does provide many face-saving formulas. At the same time it makes clear that we are prepared to recognize the PDR if they can prove that it reflects the will of the people; and it also gives us a reason to refuse to recognize the PDR. There can be no question of an invasion of sovereignty since the proposal is symmetrical. That is, the Federal Republic would submit itself to the same process as the PDR.

Another conceivable proposal which I advanced in 1954 but which does not fit the situation quite so well would be again to propose an all-German ministry for unification plus free movement of people between the two parts of Germany, and coupling this with a proposal of some kind of free elections, if not for a Parliament then for a Constituent Assembly. In this case one could couple a proposal of an American withdrawal from Berlin with steps towards German unification. That is, some American troops would be withdrawn every time German unification is advanced another step, the last troops leaving when German unification is completed. Again, I would be willing to demilitarize East Germany (and it is not a considerable concession to demilitarize 1/3 of the territory of a sovereign state). Finally, I would have no objection