memorandum of meeting of the bilderberg steering group, december 6 and 7, 1954, in paris

7/28/2019 Memorandum of Meeting of the Bilderberg Steering Group, December 6 and 7, 1954, in Paris

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e1norand m o e 1ng of th

B1ld rbe rg Steer1ng Group,

D ce111ber 6 and 7, 1954, 1n P a r i s

T he f i rs m ee ing was held dur ing the day of December 6, .......

P r i n ce Bernha rd a s cha1"rman. Th. e re w e re presen

•

M r. P a u l Rykens o f the e her lands

r . P a l V an Z eeland of Belgiutrt

M r. R udof Muel le r of Gern1any

M r . Ole Kraf t of Denmark

S ir Colin Gubbins of the Uni ed Kingdom

M r. Fanfan i and the I tal ian Atnbassador to France ,

M r . Quaroni , of I taly

M r. Pinay of France

M e s s r s . Bal l , F e rguson and Li t le john of th

Uni ted Sta tes

D r. R inger and h is a s s is ant , Mr . Pon'lian .

The f i r s t r·na r discussed by h Group was the im and

lo a ion of subsequen m e ings , and af r h major i ty A m r ican pr fe n

d. p r s s d i w as aee on) a Fa l l rne t ing had bor (bu no

• •

1ns1s n

o hold a cond con£ r n 11 0 19

in he n1 ed S a e s , i po s ib l . All h Eu op n p r n l

h a so m e kind of a rr1 1ng 1n h Spr ing w as also d s i rab l , and h Group

decided o have a sma l l r on!er n P on th 18 h of r h, bo h or h



pu p as of discuss1n subs ant1v prob l m s and p r c in plans fo

a l l conf ence .

The Spring meet ing i s expec ed o be held in Stresa and ne

nu:r11ber of p a r ic ipants vl i l l b l i in i ted to approximate ly 40, composed of

abou 30 Europeans and 5 to 10 A m e r i c a n s . Invitatio11s to this Spring m e -

ing would be i s sued by Pr i nce Bert1hard toge ther with M r. Coleman and

M r. V an Zeeland and our Ital ia n f r ien ds .

I t w as fu r the r agre d tha t for th purpose of future confe rences

son1eone f rorn Tu rk e y would be added to he G roup and lv1.r. McGhee 1 s sug -

gest ion for the p r e s e n t Turkish foreign n1i11ister w as a cepted subje t o a

check being made a s to th a ceptabil1 y of h is name on the pa r t of the

p r e s e n t Turk ish pres ident . If he Turkish foreign ·: rninister is o be in ,,i ed,

Pr ince Be rnha rd will i s su the invi tat ion, but this invitation would b p r -

ceded by an in fo rmal approa h on the p a r t of M r. M Ghee.

I t was a lso agr ed that a Canadian m e m b e r should b add d o

the Group , and the Canadian for ign minis t r wil l b ask d o sugg s som on

M r. Bal l e p re s s d he hop tha pr i o r to th Spring m t ing,

someone on the Uni t d S a es sid could vis t t th m m b r s of th Uni d Sta

Group and prepare synops s of h i v1ews on the variou is su s , whi h could•

be avatlable for use a individual was abl to

at tend . This w as r gard d as a us ful d•

1 by h Europ an , and h y a r

cons ide r ing si1nilar a t ton.



T h e d is c u ss ion h n t u rne d t o h subjec s w hich should be

d iscuss e d a t h e Spr i n g and F a l l m eet ings . M r. B a ll sa i d he thought i t

migh t b e use ul t o s ee if a point of view could b e found wi thin wh ich v ar io u s

subjects could be ra i s e d . He said he fel t t hat Arner ica had come t o the c o n -

elusion ha t co-exis tence of some so r t had becorne a necess i ty r a ther han

a condi t ion. This had come about because of the close study of hydrogen

warfa re , and he had the i rnpre s sion that rnost governments had had a s imi la r

e perience . He also added that he thought there w as an assumpt ion in

present thinking that the Soviet l eader s themse lves had begun to apprec ia e

the in1pl icat ions of a future a rm e d confl ic t on a world wide bas i s and wanted

to avoid such a mil i t a ry col l is ion.

M r. Bal l mentioned that the United States had reformulated the

concep t of ' 'p aceful a-exis tence" and now talked of i t as ' comp• •

1 1

co-exis tence" , which means that the United States would ace pt th id a of

a long pe r iod of cold war dur ing whi h our t ask would b to f ight fo r h

uncomm1 t d a r as of Asia , th Middle Eas t , and Afr i a . H point d ou

that , in l a rg measur , h s a r s includ d th und rd v lop d a r a s a s

w 11.

M r . a ll a l o a id ha h though A m r i an

that Europ would hav o ak a r a l p a r 1n h is ta k b aus th i r in t r s s

natural ly o1n td d in such an n ,..,...., rp r i s .

M r. Bal l a td that h f 1 th subJ t of 11 om p t i t i co- x1 n

ton1a 1 ally ra1s d rnos o{ h su h s i n rna l co mmu n i m ,



c o m m u n i s t inf i l t rat ion in uncominit ted a reas , colonial prob lems , nd r -

develop ed a reas , etc .

F in al ly he pointe d o ut that he felt a subject which could bear

ve ry c lo se co n s id e ra t ion was the p e a cet ime use of a tomic energy. This

c ould d eve lop ve ry rap i dly a nd c o uld be o f major irr1portance in a period

of compe t i t i v e c o -ex i s tence , and he fel t w e shou ld have p r esen t a t our

cotning m ee t ings a fe w p e ople w h o k n e w th is subject w e l l .

I t w as ag r e ed t ha t t h e p h r ase "c o tn p eti t ive co - exis tence 11 w as

a difficul t one to t rans la t e into F r e n c h, and th e d i scuss ion i nd icate d tha

t he re w as s ome confusion in the n1inds of the Europe a n s a bout i t . Si n ce

•

t he re seemed to be cons iderab le difficul ty with th e phra se , it w as a g r ee d

that i t would be pre fe rab le to talk about the f ight for the al legia n ce of the

uncoJnmit ted people . which would e1nbrace the uncomn"lit ted peoples o f

Asia , the Middle E a s t and Afr ica as wel l as uncotntni t ted individua l s a nd

groups in Europe and e lsewhere .

M r. Mueller felt that so far as Europe was concerned , so c i a l

mobility on the cont inent of Europe w as the m o s t important e lement in c o1n-

ttina con1muniam. M r. Fanfani expressed the view that it was n e e s s a r y

t economic asiatance be preceded by poli t ical assistance, because he

fel t t the exper ience in Italy had demonstra ted that pol i t ical de1noc r acy

cou l be more important than economic ass i s tance , al though he ag r ed th a t

ic aaiatance a probably necessary in most cas e s .



M r. P i nay w as d.ls turbed about the pre sen t

s1tua 1on 1n wh1

under our democra t i c sys em s .' we perrnl the Russians to go forward openly

Vlith the i r dpropagan a , and he fel t this was a great danger in the cold war.

of combatt ing cornmun1S1n 1n

d i f fe ren t coun t r i e s , and i t w as agreed that pr10

rto the Spring n1e eting a

Th i s led to a d iscuss ion of the problems

s tudy would be rnade of the rnethods employed by the communis t s in each of

the Eu ro p e a n coun r i e s and the United Sta es, together with a conside a ion

of the m an s of comba ing sue penetrat ion.

Th e r w as some dtscuss ion of th difficul ty of i inposing r e s t r i c

t ions unde r a d emo cr acy and se, reral znen1ber s e ./ p r e s s e d the view that

ins i s t ing upon rec ip roc i y with the Soviet Union w as perhaps the m os useful

way e i the r to l i tni t Russ ian ac ivi t ies or inc rease our own.

T he 1neeting agreed that w e needed some gene ra l proposi ion

under which a discuss ion could be held on the offensive and defensive aspects

of a prot rac ted cold war , and Pr ince Bernhard formulated he agenda as

coming under the genera l heading of the f ight or the al legiance of the

uncotnmit ted peoples , giving f i rs prior i ty to Europe , second to th unde r -

developed and uncotnmi t d a re a s of Asia , the Middl E a s t and A r ica and

th i rd , the coun t r ies a l r eady b hind the I ron Curtain . He add d that we should

t ake up ways and mean s of conducting this fight for the al legianc , including

the ideo logica l and economic aspects. . He also f 1 tha t we would ha e to

d i rec t at tent ion to the overseas t e r r i to r i es both frorn the ideological and the

econom1c poin of view.



A dls ussion th n ollow d on th mm b r h p o n

onference and ach 0 tE rop ans was ask d o m ak

1 0 n An

f for t w as m ad to kP h suggest1ons o a min1mum and h um r o

sugges t ions total led approximately 30. Thm mb r s rep r senting th

United States said that m m b r s of h unit d S ates Ste r1ng Group would

be invi ted to a t tend the Sprmg m e mg and if sev ra l of th m werunabl

to a t tend, addi t ional people of var ied 1nterests would be includ d.

I t w as agr d to stabl ish two ad ho omm1 t s o pr par

m a t r i a l for th Spr1ng m t ing. The f1rs group w1ll d a l with th

ideologi al asp c ts of th fight for th a ll gianc of un ommi t t d p opl s ,

and wil l hav as i t h 1rman Mr. Fanfani . Th second w1ll d a l wi h h

conomi asp cts , and wil l hav e as i t s hai rman Pr1nc rn h a rd , a si

by M r. Ryk ns.

The m t ing d c1ded that th r would b an Am r i n v1

ch i rm a n of each group to b s 1 c t d by M r. Col man and hat th h i r -

m n and vice cha i rman should 1nvit xpr ss ions of vi w f rom any m mb r s

of th Group. Th cha1rm n would b p ted to ass m bl th•

V l W S , S

w 11 a s the i r own, in pap r s for dist r ibut ion pr io r to th Spring •1ng,

whi h would s rv a s a bas i s for discussion.

Th following morn1ng a sma l l m t1ng was h ld in th l ta l i n

Emb s y under th ch i rmanship of Pr in B rnhard to go ov r som of th

d i ls of th discus ion of th prec ding day. Th r w r pr s nt th



Ital1an A mb assad o r'

and 1\1r . Poxr1ian.

T h i s rneet1ng d 1 cus d thse e repor t s to be prepared pr1or o

theSpr ing rnee tmg and P rm c e Bernhard expressed the view that th c h a n -

m en of the two co mmi t t ees s auld have 1n the1r hands by the end of anuary

opinions f rom var ious mernbers of he roup. I t as the sense of he

meet in g that these indiv1dual op1nions would b cornbined 1n t o repor s by

the ch a i rmen and the vice chat rmen of the two coln tn i t tees and tha t only the

corr1bined r e p o r t s would be 1rcula ted .

Pr ince Bernhard a l so rerninded the m e m b e r s tha t each country

would be expected o se u re a r por on comrnunis t methods in l1at country

a s wel l as the methods being used to cornbat hem. D r. Rettnger indi a ed

t h a t Mr . McGhee had of red o rnak- a r ep o r t on the Middle E a s t along

these l ines , and i t w as ag reed h a t such a repor t w as des i rab le and should

be sen t to M r. Fanfani . Pr1n e Bernhard also asked that a repor t of th is

kind be m a de on Japan , and r . L1tt le john agr ed to ar range for the p r ep a r a

t ion of such a repor t .

T h ere fol lowed a dis uss ion of the f inancia l asp c s of the work

and i t w as emphas ized that, i th r e s p e t o th Fa l l meeting in the United

States, t r ave l should b pa1d by tl l E u ro p ans . Th osts of th Spring

conference have not b en es t imated in detai l , bu i t w as as su med th a t he

United Sta tes could pay p a r t o the cost of su 11 a confe r en e , and D r. Ret ing

indicated that he would l ike to have a t 1 a s t som e of the funds to be suppli d

f rom the United States available quickly.

memorandum of meeting of the bilderberg steering group, december 6 and 7, 1954, in paris

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