On January 14, 1963, French President Charles de Gaulle caught everyone by surprise with a press conference in which he vetoed British entry into the Common Market and flatly ruled out French participation in a NATO multilateral force. Not knowing that de Gaulle and West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer were just days away from springing another surprise–the Franco-German Treaty of 1963 (also known as the Élysée Treaty), former Secretary of State Dean Acheson telegrammed Adenauer directly, appealing to him to try to persuade de Gaulle to backtrack on the veto.
Dean Acheson and the Kennedy Administration
Dean Acheson was called on by President Kennedy to help with the administration policies on Berlin, NATO, and Cuba, but he did so as a private citizen and ad hoc advisor.
Dean Acheson on French President Charles de Gaulle’s Double Non
In the wake of French President Charles de Gaulle’s January 14, 1963, press conference in which he vetoed British entry into the Common Market and ruled out French participation in a NATO multilateral force, former Secretary of State Dean Acheson wrote President Kennedy a memorandum outlining his views.