867N.48/5–249
Memorandum of Conversation With the President, by the Secretary of State
Subject: Palestine Refugee Problem
I went over the main points of Mr. McGhee’s memorandum1 with the President, directing his attention specifically to the tentative financial commitments which might be involved.
The President believed that it would probably be necessary for him to make the commitments (subject to Congressional action) but that before he did so he would like to have this matter laid before him in a memorandum which he could submit to the Bureau of the Budget and the Secretary of the Treasury, so that there could be orderly consideration of these new proposed commitments. If we can get such a memorandum to the President tomorrow, he believes that he could have the matter considered and possibly acted on at the Cabinet meeting on Friday. Until that is done he does not believe that it would be proper for me to agree, even tentatively, as this might be misleading.