103.1/12–1251
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Webb)
National Security Council, Wednesday, December 12, 1951
Item 1. The briefing was held. In the course of this briefing the thought occurred to me that it might be a most useful supplement to this briefing to have Mr. Harvey give the same briefing that he gives the Under Secretary’s Meeting once a week. I believe this would be informative insofar as the President and other members of the NSC are concerned and would perhaps be the most economical way they could obtain the information. At the same time, I believe it would make a good impression on behalf of the State Department. I suggest this be considered by Mr. Bohlen1 and Mr. Armstrong2 and if they think well [Page 977] of it let Mr. Lay hear one of Mr. Harvey’s briefings to see whether he would like to make this suggestion to the President.
Item 2. The President called on Defense first, and Mr. Foster3 stated that while Defense generally concurred in the paper,4 he did not wish this concurrence to indicate that this project should rate a priority higher than others. He indicated he wished to give real study as to just what priority it should receive and, in general, made remarks indicating that although he wished the study to proceed and the program expedited, he did not wish to be bound as to its exact priority.
Mr. Foley5 indicated that he believed the present tax provisions in the law were sufficiently favorable to get the plan implemented, and doubted the advisability of asking for any further legislation. Mr. Searles,6 for Interior, indicated concurrence and expressed the hope that Mr. Wilson could proceed with all the arrangements for rationing so that this could be put into effect with a minimum loss of time, and suggested that ration books could be printed up. Mr. Wilson expressed concern that this would start a certain amount of alarm, but that he was prepared to go ahead if that was desired. The President did not indicate concurrence at this meeting in putting this much urgency on the program, but requested that this problem of how much urgency and whether to print the ration coupons be given the most careful consideration by Interior and Mr. Wilson’s office.
Mr. Graham Morison,7 for the Attorney General,8 stated that the Department of Justice was concerned with that part of the plan which tended to put representatives of the oil industry in a position of performing governmental functions and having access to the data collected by the government. He stated that if representatives of the larger oil industries were placed in these positions, the independents would undoubtedly suffer, and further stated that the record of the industry insofar as anti-trust activity was concerned, was not too good.
In the end the paper was agreed to with the understanding that Mr. Foster’s reservation as to priority would be noted, that Interior and Mr. Wilson’s office were to get together, and that Interior and the Department of Justice were to get together on the features of industry participation.
- Charles E. Bohlen, Counselor to the Department of State.↩
- W. Park Armstrong, Jr., Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Intelligence.↩
- William C. Foster, Deputy Secretary of Defense.↩
- The paper under reference is NSC 97/1, “A National Petroleum Program,” a report to the National Security Council by Executive Secretary Lay, November 27, 1951. The text of NSC 97/2, a slightly revised draft of NSC 97/1, appears infra.↩
- Edward H. Foley, Under Secretary of the Treasury.↩
- Richard D. Searles, Under Secretary of the Interior.↩
- Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, Department of Justice.↩
- J. Howard McGrath.↩