Word: mending
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...when the Saar was not concerned, Mendès was all reason and optimism. He politely declined the chairmanship of the four-power meeting, saying that this was only a continuation of the London Conference, and Sir Anthony should preside. Soon other diplomats were swarming into Paris (and it took a practiced diplomat to know which was a meeting of the Big Four, the Big Nine, or the Big Fourteen). Smoothly, as if he had not a reservation in the world, Mendès joined with the other four members of the Brussels Treaty, plus Canada...
...kept insisting on the word "irrevocable." Adenauer's coalition leaders, arriving from Germany, were firmly opposed to any concession which would permanently detach the Saar from Germany. "I cannot go to my Parliament with some vague promise that we will agree on the Saar sometime in the future," Mendès told Adenauer...
Miracle in Sight. The next day brought the crisis. At breakfast, the German representative told Adenauer that the French would not give an inch. There was no use continuing the haggling. Mendès retorted by summoning his Cabinet, extracting a unanimous declaration of support for his stand. To make his point emphatic, Mendès announced he would not sign anything at all until he had a Saar settlement, proved he meant what he said by refusing to sign a purely procedural letter from the occupying powers to Adenauer...
...observer. While Adenauer watched silently from a corner of the table, the council swiftly ground through its business. It approved a protocol inviting West Germany to join NATO and a resolution giving the Supreme Allied Commander Europe added powers to station troops and establish supply bases wherever he chose. Mendès haggled politely over what military items Germany was to manufacture, but dropped his expected demand that German forces be "integrated" at the division level, and accepted instead integration at army group (200,000 men) or army (100,000 men) levels. Mendès, too, was taking risks...
With success in sight, the ministers burst into encomiums. Dulles spoke of "a near miracle ... a shining chapter of history." Said Mendès: "Tomorrow we shall put a happy end to our work together. We shall be able to tell our Parliaments and our public that we have reached agreement." Said Konrad Adenauer: "The German people feel with great emotion the importance of this day." The formal signings were scheduled for next...