On 18 July 1955, at the opening of the Geneva Conference of the Heads of Government of France, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, the US President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, gives an address in which he stresses the importance of rapprochement between East and West.

During the Geneva Conference held from 18 to 23 July 1955 and attended by delegates from the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the USSR, the Soviet delegation proposes a Treaty on rapprochement between East and West with a view to maintaining peace on the European continent.

On 23 July 1955, the Soviet representative, Nikolai Bulganin, gives the closing address at the Geneva Conference and welcomes the spirit of cooperation which has prevailed between the Soviet and Western delegations.

On 23 July 1955, at the end of the Four-Power Conference held in Geneva, the German daily newspaper Die Welt comments on the new dialogue established between East and West and reports on the progress of the negotiations.

‘There are some problems that are difficult to put into the fridge’. Following the Geneva Conference, the cartoonist Behrendt illustrates the efforts of the Heads of Government of the four great powers (United States, United Kingdom, France and the USSR) to find a solution to the German question.

On 25 July 1955, two days after the end of the Geneva Conference, President Dwight D. Eisenhower addresses the American people and gives an initial account of the East-West dialogue.

On 25 July 1955, the French High Commissioner in Austria, François Seydoux, informs the French Foreign Minister, Antoine Pinay, of the Austrian Government’s satisfaction at the positive outcome of the Geneva Diplomatic Conference on East-West relations.

On 25 July 1955, commenting on the Geneva Conference, held from 18 to 21 July, the French daily newspaper Le Figaro analyses the signs of détente that have become apparent between the United States and the Soviet Union.

On 28 July 1955, Maurice Couve de Murville, French Ambassador to the United States, informs Antoine Pinay, French Foreign Minister, of the US leaders’ reservations regarding the Soviet attitude and the outcome of the Geneva Conference on East-West relations.

On 28 October 1955, the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera ponders on the reality of the new political orientation of Moscow’s leaders which became apparent during the Geneva Conference, held in July 1955, which was attended by representatives from the United States and the USSR.

On 4 August 1955, Jean Le Roy, French chargé d’affaires in Moscow, informs Antoine Pinay, French Foreign Minister, of the optimism with which the Soviet Premier, Nikolai Bulganin, reported on the outcome of the Geneva Conference to the Supreme Soviet.

‘... Air raid warning.' On 20 September 1955, the Soviet satirical publication Krokodil deplores the sabotage, by Cold War supporters, of ‘the Spirit of Geneva' and of the new climate of dialogue symbolised by the Geneva Conference which, from 18 to 21 July 1955, was attended by the Four Powers (the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the USSR).

‘The spirit that is about to give up the ghost.' In cartoonist Fritz Behrendt's view, ‘the spirit of dialogue' reigning between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, is in a bad way four months after the Geneva Conference in July 1955.

Dans ses Mémoires, Nikita Khrouchtchev, ancien Premier secrétaire du Parti communiste d'URSS, commente le sommet de Genève de juillet 1955 qui marque le début du dialogue Est-Ouest.

On 12 July 1957, Paul-Henri Spaak, the Secretary-General of NATO, speaks to eminent figures at the Municipal Theatre of Luxembourg and presents the Atlantic Alliance as a consequence of the Soviet Union’s foreign policy since the end of the Second World War.

On 26 October 1955, as the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France is held in Geneva, the Dutch daily newspaper Het Parool analyses the state of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States.

On 16 November 1955, the German weekly Der Spiegel questions whether the direction in which the negotiations on German unification between the Western powers and the Soviet Union are going is in the interests of the German people.