"We Are Ready"

Amid the ups and downs of the Berlin crisis, relationships between Bonn and Washington became flawed. U.S. talk about the need for Berlin negotiations led Adenauer to fear that President Kennedy was prepared to make concessions at German expense. Washington was irked by Bonn's unwillingness to get down to discussions, and by West German demands for nuclear arms. To make matters worse, Kennedy and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer had never achieved any particular personal understanding. On a visit to Washington last April, the Chancellor appeared unsure of the new President, talked largely in guarded generalities about U.S.-German problems. But last week, during a three-day strenuous trip to Washington, most of the U.S.-German conflicts were resolved.

Doing Business. This time, Adenauer came to do business. He spent 13 hours in on-and-off discussions so private that even West Germany's Foreign Minister Gerhard Schroeder was kept mostly in the dark about what went on. After one of Adenauer's meetings with Kennedy, Schroeder approached the Chancellor to ask what the talk had been about, got a frosty brushoff. "My dear fellow," said Adenauer, "it was a private conversation. If I told you, it would no longer be private."

But the tenor of the talk was clear. Coming to the White House, Adenauer had only vague ideas about what subjects could be negotiated with the Russians, but some very firm thoughts about what ought not to be discussed with them: recognition of East Germany, confirmation of the Oder-Neisse line as the boundary between Poland and Germany, establishment of Central Europe as a neutral zone. To the old man's delight, Kennedy agreed to keep such issues out of any discussion on Berlin--although they might be considered in future talks on some larger issue, such as reunification of Germany.

Both men agreed that the basic Western rights--access to West Berlin, the freedom of the city, the privilege of garrisoning Allied troops there--were not negotiable; they also agreed to discuss with the Russians some new contractual arrangement that would make those rights less subject to misinterpretation. Privately and sadly, Adenauer and Kennedy admitted that the West would have to accept the presence of The Wall as a bitter but ineradicable fact of Berlin life.*

A few smaller issues were left unresolved. Adenauer promised to strengthen West Germany's NATO contribution from eight to twelve divisions; but he was brusquely turned down in his demand to have some share in the decision to use NATO's nuclear capability if ever a hot war began. Kennedy suggested that West Germany consider making more economic and commercial contact with East Germany; Adenauer demurred, on the ground that any further relationship would approach de facto recognition of the Ulbricht regime. The two disagreed on the need for closer ties between West Berlin and West Germany; Kennedy argued that any further efforts to tie the city to Bonn might stir the Soviets into fresh reprisals. As gently as he could, Kennedy suggested that Adenauer should start to groom a successor; Adenauer merely promised to think the matter over.

Negotiation or War. On one important issue, there was no dispute. After hearing Kennedy's persuasive argument that the Western choice was negotiation or war, Adenauer agreed that the Allies should take the first steps toward discussions with the Soviet Union. Adenauer went even further than Washington expected: he offered to try to win over France's Charles de Gaulle, who--alone among the top Western leaders--still believes that the Soviet Union must make the first overtures to negotiations. Even before he left Washington, Adenauer sent a long letter to De Gaulle, who last weekend was on the receiving end of a similar sales talk from Britain's Prime Minister Macmillan. If a cold that put Adenauer in bed on his return to Germany improves, he will see De Gaulle in Paris late this week.

At the end of his Washington visit, Adenauer seemed confident that Berlin negotiations would begin by January. More important, both the Chancellor and his host seemed sure that the possibility of a serious Bonn-Washington split had been averted. As he left the White House for the last time, Adenauer shook the President's hand and said: "Whatever you call upon us to do, we are ready." Kennedy's heartfelt answer: "These have been some of the most useful meetings I've had since I've been in Washington."

* Physically, the thin, crumbling Communist wall that divides Berlin is as fragile as it is ugly. Last week 1,500 East German army engineers, accompanied by the blare of jazz and slogans from loudspeaker trucks, began to build a stronger, shoulder-high wall near the Brandenburg Gate and the Potsdamer Platz. In response, 30,000 West Berliners turned out in the cold to hold a protest rally; later, some 1,500 of them ignored the pleas of West Berlin police, hurled curses at East German police from vantage points (see cut) near the new construction. The workmen went right on building.

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