THE NATION: Herter Comes Home

This week, with the Big Four foreign ministers’ conference at Geneva in recess and acknowledged to be a diplomatic water haul (see FOREIGN NEWS), Secretary of State Christian Herter flew back to the U.S. At Washington’s Military Air Transport Service Terminal, Herter got a big welcome from State Department aides, the British and French ambassadors, wives and children of his Geneva team. Said Under Secretary of State C. Douglas Dillon: “Congratulations.” Herter lifted his scraggly eyebrows and looked at Dillon quizzically.

Then Herter walked over to a bank of cameras in the strong sunlight, read a stout statement on the 41 days of drab dialogue in Geneva. Said he:

“The Western powers offered far-reaching proposals on German reunification and European security, and put forward reasonable offers to reach an interim agreement on West Berlin. The Soviet Union, however, revealed clearly that its true desire is to absorb West Berlin into East Germany and to keep Germany divided until it can be brought under Soviet influence.

“In all the discussions, my Western colleagues and I had foremost in mind the freedom of more than 2,000,000 people of West Berlin. We were determined, and remain determined, to make no arrangement with the Soviet Union that would undermine that freedom.

“When the conference resumes, the Western foreign ministers will be ready—as before—to negotiate in good faith, but resolved—as before—to stand firm on rights and principles.”

That said, Chris Herter got ready to report to President Eisenhower and the nation in that spirit.