U.S. ‘Hopeful’ Over Talks At Geneva

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28888, 7 May 1959, Page 15

U.S. ‘Hopeful’ Over Talks At Geneva

(Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, May 5. The Secretary of State (Mr Christian Herter) told United States senators today that he was hopeful the coming Foreign Ministers’ conference on the state of Berlin would be sufficiently fruitful to justify a summitt meeting later, the American Associated Press reported.

At the same time, President Eisenhower told his news conference that a summit conference would be a foregone conclusion if the Foreign Ministers’ conference opened the way to easing East-West tensions. He said Mr Khrushchev was the only man who would deal authoritatively for the Soviet Union. Senator J. William Fulbright (Democrat, Arkansas) told reporters that Mr Herter gave the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a two-hour closed-door briefing on the Western “pack-: age” proposal, to be presented to the Soviet Union at the Foreign Ministers’ meeting, opening in Geneva on Monday.

Senator Fulbright said it appeared to be “a fair and sound

settlement.” but that “fine details” of the proposal were withheld from the committee.

“The nature of the negotiations are such that it does not lend itself to public discussion in advance,” he said. Summing up Mr Herter’s views on prospects for the Geneva conference. Senator Fulbright said: “I wouldn’t say that Mr Herter was optimistic of getting Russian acceptance. I think I would say he was not completely without hope. He hopes the Geneva meeting will be sufficiently fruitful to justify a summit meeting later on.” Soviet Plans A Geneva message says the Soviet Foreign Minister, Mr Andrei Gromyko, is expected to arrive in Geneva late on Saturday for the Foreign Ministers’ conference. One of Mr Gromyko’s first moves at the conference is expected to be to propose that Poland and Czechoslovakia should join the conference as full members. This would give the Eastern bloc the same number of participants as the Western group. The Western Powers would like to keep the conference down to its present composition—the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, with East and West Germany as consultants. They recognise Poland and Czechoslovakia have an interest in subjects likely to be discussed and, it was stated, are ready to have them sit at the conference table as consultants when required. At the same time, Italy should, in the Western view, be called in as a consultant.

U.S. MISSILE LAUNCHED

5000-Mile Test Of Snark

<Rec. 9.30 p.m.»

CAPE CANAVERAL, May 6. An operational model of a Snark guided missile roared over the Atlantic late last night on the start of an inter-continental range flight. The 69ft missile, the first United States weapon that will be capable of hauling a nuclear warhead more than 5500 miles, burst off its launcher with a flash of orange flame. The ocean-spanning trip was to take nearly 10 hours before the nose cone broke away and headed for the target like a bomb. The impact area was to be near Ascension Island, the terminal station in the Atlantic missile range. The shoot was the second of the operational Snark tests. The Snark cruises at 600 miles an hour—slow for a missile—but it reportedly has an excellent accuracy record.