SCHUMAN AND ADENAUER

On 9 May the German Cabinet too was in session. Adenauer, while at the Cabinet table, was handed a letter from Schuman containing an outline of the plan. Recognising, as he said later, that this was 'a magnanimous step ... of extraordinary importance for the peace of Europe and of the entire world', Adenauer replied, accepting, within the hour. 'Because a personal relationship of trust had been formed,' comments Price, 'the opportunity was not lost.'44 So when Schuman brought the proposal before his Cabinet an hour later, with the strong support of Mayer and Pleven, it was approved.45

In 1951, two months after the Schuman Plan agreement was finally signed, Adenauer sent to Buchman in America a message which was reported in the New York Herald-Tribune under the headline 'Moral Re-Armament is Credited for Role in Schuman Plan Talks'.46 Adenauer wrote, 'In recent months we have seen the conclusion, after some difficult negotiations, of important international agreements. Here Moral Re-Armament has played an invisible but effective part in bridging differences of opinion between negotiating parties, and has kept before them the object of peaceful agreement in the search for the common good which is the true purpose of human life... It is my conviction too that men and nations cannot outwardly enjoy stable relationships until they have been inwardly prepared for them. In this respect, Moral Re-Armament has rendered great and lasting service.'47 The presentation of the German Order of Merit to Buchman followed in the next year.

It was not until 1953 that Schuman was able to fulfil his promise to visit Caux. After attending every meeting during his brief stay and seeing two plays, he asked if he might speak. 'I leave in a spirit noticeably different from the one in which I came here,' he said. 'I have been in politics for thirty-four years, and during that length of time one learns to be sceptical. I am leaving with much less scepticism than when I came, and at my age that is a considerable advance.' What had impressed him more than anything else, he said, was how Moral Re-Armament could be translated in terms of international relations between countries. 'Thank you for giving me that hope,' he concluded. 'From now on we will never give up.' As he left Caux he added, 'This has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.'48

Schuman continued to give regular support until Buchman's death in 1961. There has been speculation why Adenauer did not mention Buchman in his Memoirs. Similarly, although his name headed a list inviting a Moral Re-Armament mission to Germany in 1956, he does not seem to have attended its theatre production in Bonn. The latter is easily understandable in a busy statesman; but the former might seem to leave his attitude equivocal. However, he was continually in touch with Buchman through the years, asking his help.

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