Frank & Friendly

West Germany's Chancellor Konrad Adenauer sat down with President Eisenhower in the White House Cabinet Room. They talked about Western unity, the death of Stalin, the place of Germany in the European Defense Community. The Chancellor announced a gift from his country to the U.S.: a full hospital unit, with five doctors, for Korea. Adenauer also had a personal gift for the U.S. President: a 16th century painting by an anonymous German artist, Adoration of Three Wise Kings.

Identity of Views. For his twelve days in the U.S., Adenauer had an arduous diplomatic, social and tourist schedule (from the capital he flew to San Francisco, thence to Chicago). He dined with old friends, e.g., Banker John J. McCloy, former U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, and new acquaintances, e.g., John D. Rockefeller Jr., 79 (of whom Adenauer said: "I really do not understand why he is still called Junior"). He was touched by his visit to Arlington Cemetery, where a U.S. Army band played The Star Spangled Banner and the Deutschlandlied (purged version of Deutschland Uber Alles) as he laid a wreath on the Unknown Soldier's Tomb. "Such a day," he said, "is more important than many sheets of paper covered with writing."

The gist of the U.S.-German discussions was summed up in a communique: "a full and frank exchange ... in a spirit of friendship and cooperation [revealing] a far-reaching identity of views and objectives." Items of agreement: P: No relaxation of common vigilance against Russia. If Moscow really wants peace, it should permit genuine free elections in Soviet Germany, release its hundreds of thousands of German war prisoners and civilian deportees. P: Ultimate reunification of Germany, "by peaceful means and on a free and democratic basis."

P: European unity and defense through the EDC.

P: Moral and material support for Berlin. P: Aid for refugees from Soviet Germany. P: Review of the status of German war criminals imprisoned in the U.S. P: Negotiation of "a new treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation" between the U.S. and Germany. Meanwhile, the 1923 treaty will be restored. The U.S. will return 350 ships seized from their German owners after World War II.

Heart of the Matter. To all Americans, from the President down, Adenauer earnestly pledged his government to the cause of Western freedom. "We want freedom," he said. "We despise Communism." The firmness of his country in standing up against the new Russian peace offensive is the rock on which Western Europe's defense must rest.

The grand climax of current Russian peace propaganda is likely to be a renewed proposal for a united and disarmed Germany, open for trade with the Communist East. A lot of Germans, and especially Adenauer's Socialist opposition, may fall for such a program. It would attract British traders, who would like to deflect German commercial competition eastward. It would be even more enticing to many French, distrustful of a rearmed Germany.

But if the West lets itself be trapped by such Red beguilement, Germany will be a vacuum into which Red armies might some day rush, leaving the West to defend the Continent's edge against a Soviet power augmented by Germany's strength. As much as any European. Adenauer sees the danger. His Washington visit was a big step toward scotching it.

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