ABSTRACT
If the Soviets were the godfathers, there was also a godmother, in the unlikely person of John Foster Dulles—"if Austria wants to be a Switzerland, US will not stand in the way, but this should not be imposed." A neutral status is an honorable status if it is voluntarily chosen by a nation. Switzerland has chosen to be neutral, and as a neutral she has achieved an honorable place in the family of nations. Under the Austrian State Treaty as heretofore drafted, Austria would be free to choose for itself to be a neutral like Switzerland. Certainly the United States would fully respect its choice in this respect, as it fully respects the choice of the Swiss Nation. The records of the Austro-Soviet talks demonstrate the central place of the 'Dulles formula' in the Soviets' successful effort to overcome Austrian doubts about the acceptability of neutrality, in view of a possibly negative attitude on the part of the Western powers.
