Federal Republic of Germany 665



Navy, Air Force, the latest heavy bombers, etc. To repeat, all this was
intended not only for the protection of Western Europe but for any spot
in which the Communists might strike. The President then proceeded to
state with some feeling that he felt that the thinking and talking in the
West should equal in intensity our political convictions. For instance, he
said, if we say that we shall stand firm with reference to Berlin, or a uni-
fied Germany, or Turkey perhaps, we must make certain that our mili-
tary strength conforms to the moral strength of what we are saying. The
Chancellor wholeheartedly agreed, adding that the President could rest
assured that both out of a sense of duty toward the Free World and for
selfish reasons Germany would do whatever is necessary in this respect.
    The President said that all this pointed up the need for an enforce-
able disarmament program.
    Mr. Adenauer stated that it was primarily the Laborites who were
propagandizing on the fear of German rearmament. Smarting under re-
cent defeats, they are looking for material on which to tangle with the
Conservatives, and they have therefore picked on German rearmament.
Mr. von Brentano at this point interjected "the British press".
The Chan-
cellor agreed and continued to say that he was not referring to the
Beaverbrook press-that was always bad. The London Times was gener-
ally more enlightened concerning German matters, but it was now pre-
senting the Laborites' views. He hoped the readers would tire of this
approach and the matter would be dropped. Perhaps only patience was
required. However, perhaps some effort could be made on the US side
to have some political influence exerted on the London Times. Macmil-
lan, he hastened to add, was not to blame in the matter. The bad thing, as
far as internal German affairs are concerned, was that the opposition
picks up these arguments and makes use thereof for its own purposes.
    The President explained that the reason he is so anxious that the
Western Powers make the best effort possible to bring our efforts in the
area of armament and disarmament into agreement with our political
convictions and determination is that he feels we can get disarmament
only from a position of strength. We have to pay a price for it. Only if
we
are strong in arms will Khrushchev understand what the situation is.
And the best argument for countering British criticism of German arma-
ment is to say: "We are arming in order to make it possible for us to
achieve disarmament".
    Mr. Adenauer enthusiastically picked up this formulation, repeat-
ing, "We arm in order to be able to disarm".
    The President ended discussion of this topic by stating that this was
a necessity.