Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Statement by the President on the Foreign Ministers Meeting at Geneva.

October 26, 1955

THREE MONTHS AGO Secretary Dulles and I, with the governmental leaders of France, Great Britain and the Soviet Union, met at Geneva. The purpose, as I said in opening that Conference, was to "create a new spirit that will make possible future solutions of problems which are within our responsibilities."

The world hopes that that Conference did in fact create that new spirit.

However, as I said to the American people on my return, the "acid test" would come when the Foreign Ministers would, in accordance with our Geneva directive, tackle concretely these problems for which our nations have responsibility and which, if unresolved, create tension and danger.

Tomorrow the four Foreign Ministers meet at Geneva to resume where we left off last July. They will seek solutions which are possible if that new spirit is real. Foremost among these measures is the reunification of Germany within a framework of European security.

Secretary Dulles and I think alike with respect to these matters. We have often discussed them and twice within the last two weeks he and I reviewed together the positions and the proposals which will be made at Geneva by the Western nations. These will be designed to promote a peace of justice, with increased security and well-being for all. They will reflect a genuine spirit of conciliation and accommodation. If the Soviet Union responds in a similar spirit, much progress can be made. That is my personal hope, as I am confident it is the hope of the American people.

We shall all of us follow with eagerness the developments at Geneva, for they will go far to demonstrate whether the "spirit of Geneva" marks a genuine change and will actually be productive of the peaceful progress for which the whole world longs.

Note: This statement was released at Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, Colo.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Statement by the President on the Foreign Ministers Meeting at Geneva. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233648

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