Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V, Part 2

867N.01/6–2248

Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Lovett)¹

[Washington,] June 22, 1948.

Mr. Clark Clifford called me at 4:25 this afternoon to say that he had just come from the President with instructions to call me and say that the President “directed me to have the papers prepared at once for the appointment of Mr. James Grover McDonald of New York to the Tel Aviv post; that he wanted this handled at once and that he wanted the announcement made this afternoon.”

I asked Mr. Clifford who Mr. McDonald was and he said that all he knew about him was that the President said he had been a member of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine. I stated that I assumed this meant that Mr. McDonald was recognized as a proponent of the Zionist cause and that I queried whether the President had considered the possible effects, if the facts were as I surmised, of such an appointment during the truce period. I pointed out that the tension was considerable, that the situation was delicate enough, and that any precipitate action on our part might have untold consequences.

Clifford replied that he knew none of the background but that the President was positive, had made up his mind, and that there was obviously no room for argument. I asked if the Department could have time to consider the matter and Mr. Clifford replied that the President’s directive was positive and that the decision had already been made; that it, therefore, called for no additional consideration.²

Robert A. Lovett

1. Initialed by the Secretary of State.
2. At 5:15 p. m., June 22, Mr. Satterthwaite telephoned Mr. Epstein and told him that the President would like to appoint Mr. James Grover McDonald as Special Representative and announce his appointment the same day. Mr. Satterthwaite “inquired whether Mr. Epstein was authorized to approve this action. Mr. Epstein replied that this matter had been left to his discretion and that he was authorized by his Government to make the decision. He stated that he was replying now, and that the United States proposal to appoint Mr. McDonald to the post had his approval.” (Memorandum of conversation, by Mr. Satterthwaite, 867N.01/6–2248) For President Truman’s statement of June 22 on the appointment of Mr. McDonald and on the designation of Mr. Epstein as Special Representative of the Provisional Government of Israel in the United States, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the united States: Harry S. Truman, 1948, p. 382; or Department of State Bulletin, July 4, 1948, p. 22.

   For Mr. McDonald’s account of the circumstances of his appointment and his discussions with President Truman and other government officials before his departure for Tel Aviv on July 23, see his My Mission in Israel, 1948–1951 (New York, Simon and Schuster, 1951), pp. 3–19.