159. Letter From Secretary of Commerce Hodges to President Johnson1
Dear Mr. President:
Re: Agricultural Quid Pro Quo—East-West Trade
You will recall that some weeks ago at a Cabinet Meeting you asked the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to see what could be done about getting a quid pro quo on beet harvesters.2
We have been working on this with the industry people who are to furnish the beet harvesters and who are making slow progress.
The Amtorg Corporation of the Soviet Union told the beet harvester manufacturing company, the other day, that they no longer wished to buy the harvesters. However, the manufacturer’s representative is going back to Moscow to see if he can get the matter back on the right track.
In the meanwhile, you should know that Agriculture has withdrawn its reservation on licensing of fertilizer plants, and that we will proceed with the appropriate licensing without the requirements of a quid pro quo, because the purchasers can obtain similar plants from our competitors.
There are a few remaining applications on industrial exports on which we will try to obtain some quid pro quo understanding.
Respectfully yours,
- Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 40, Secretary of Commerce Files: FRC 69 A 6828, White House, May–June. No classification marking. Drafted by Hodges. An attached abstract of secretarial correspondence prepared by Jack N. Behrman for Secretary Hodges on June 24 summarizes the status of an agricultural quid pro quo on East-West trade. Also attached is a note to Behrman saying that Secretary Hodges wanted him to see the Secretary’s letter before it was sent and asking him to initial the note after reading. Handwritten on this note is “O.K.” followed by Behrman’s initials and a June 25 date.↩
- No record of a discussion of this subject at a Cabinet meeting has been found. Hodges may have been thinking of the NSC discussion on April 16 and the subsequent Record of Action; see Documents 154 and 155.↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates Hodges signed the original.↩