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"Overwhelming Desire." The U.S. had acceded to Western Europe's wish to feel out the Russians diplomatically. Now the time had come for Europe to endorse the missile base plan. There were still hangers-back. West German Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss made it clear once again that his government was not yet prepared to commit itself to missile bases in Germany itself. "It would be foolish," said Strauss, "to put heavy artillery in the front lines." (Privately, NATO strategists agree that no missile bases should be placed east of the Rhine.) But Britain's Macmillan neatly cut through all anti-IRBM arguments with the pointed statement that while he could understand a nation wishing to be neutral and unarmed, he could see no sense in a nation that was not neutral contenting itself with obsolete arms.
On the third morning of the conference, Norway, followed once again by Etenmark, did a dramatic turnabout. Though Norway still did not want any missiles, explained Norway's Foreign Minister Halvard Lange, he had been impressed by the "overwhelming desire" on the part of other European NATO members to make the decision to accept IRBMs now. He was so impressed, in fact, that Norway now "ardently" favored immediate adoption of the "principle" of missile bases in Europe. Harold Macmillan summarized the new posture in a phrase borrowed from Sir Winston Churchill: "We arm to parley."
No Wavering. Point by point, agreement was reached on phraseology. In the section on NATO defense, the meeting (presumably in deference to John Foster Dulles) avoided the words "in principle," produced a firm statement that assured SHAPE of missile bases in Europe but spared individual nations the political embarrassment of an immediate commitment. In the articles dealing with negotiations with the Russians, there was careful omission of the fact that Konrad Adenauer apparently intended to explore through diplomatic channels just what kind of deal the Russians were prepared to offer in Central Europe.
When the leaders at the great conference table came to France's demand that the conference endorse at least indirectly France's position in Algeria, Dulles hesitated. Then Dwight Eisenhower took a hand. Turning to Dulles, he said, "Give me a pencil, Foster," and set down what eventually became the final sentence of Article Four of the Paris communique: "Historic, economic and other friendly ties between certain European countries and Africa would make . . . cooperation [between them] particularly desirable and effective." Glowed one French delegate: "When Ike took that pencil in hand, it was an act of great leadership." He added: "We were also pleased to notice that there was no wavering in the hand that held the pencil."
At long last the job was done. Graciously Ike turned down a Turkish proposal that the communique include a special word of gratitude to the U.S. "No, gentlemen," he said, "this is a team effort, a corporate effort. Let's not praise any individual nation."