032/4–2051
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of Eastern European Affairs ( Reinhardt)
Subject: Proposed trip of U.S. industrialists to Soviet Union
| Participants: | The Secretary |
| Mr. Frederick Reinhardt, EE | |
| Mr. Charles E. Wilson, Director of Defense Mobilization | |
| Mr. Wm. W. Lancaster of Sherman, Sterling and Wright, New York City | |
| Mr. Clarence Pickett, Executive Secretary, American Friends Service Committee |
Messrs. Wilson, Lancaster and Pickett called by appointment1 to discuss the project of a trip to the Soviet Union by a group consisting of Messrs. Charles E. Wilson of General Electric, Chester Barnard, Rockefeller Foundation, Frank W. Abrams, head of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, Henry Ford II, William W. Lancaster and Clarence Pickett. (See Mr. Kennan’s memorandum to the Secretary of March 132 and EE memorandum of March 273 reporting a conversation between Mr. Pickett and Mr. Reinhardt on this subject.)
Mr. Pickett began the conversation by reviewing briefly the history of the project. He emphasized that all the members of the group, with the possible exception of Mr. Henry Ford II, were convinced of the importance and potentialities of such an effort on the part of prominent American industrialists to breach the Iron Curtain and that although they were very much aware of the difficulties and dangers which surrounded such a project they felt they must pursue it further.
Mr. Lancaster covered the same ground, reviewing the history of his periodic contacts with Messrs. Gromyko and Malik and argued the importance of such a trip to the Soviet Union by outstanding American industrialists along the lines of the attached memorandum4 which he presented to the Secretary in this connection. He said that although such a journey would be of course unofficial, nevertheless in view of the times it was understandable that the interested persons felt that they could not go through with it in the absence of approval from high official quarters.
Mr. Wilson stated that as a member of the Government he was of course no longer available for this project but as he had mentioned to the Secretary on previous occasions he was indeed interested in it. He recounted the inception of the idea and emphasized his clear impression that Mr. Malik was definitely taken with it. Mr. Wilson said that he of course did not know whether Malik’s enthusiasm was for good or evil but the fact of his enthusiasm had been very evident.
The Secretary said to the group that it was an unfortunate but very pertinent commentary on the present state of relations with the Soviet Union that the desire of a group of prominent American citizens to visit the Soviet Union should pose such a problem. It would definitely mark an improvement in these relations when it [Page 1573] would be possible for such a group to make the journey without it becoming headline news. There seemed little prospect at the present time, however, of such an improvement in our political relations with the Soviet Union as to make this possible. We were doing everything we could in the deputies meetings in Paris to find a reasonable basis for discussion of the grave problems which separated us and our allies from the Soviet Union. We were confronted in Korea with the immediate task of resisting Communist aggression in that country and the Secretary stressed the importance that nothing be undertaken at this time which might in any way be open to misunderstanding or possibly compromise the position of this Government at such a serious and tense moment in history.
In the situation that prevailed today it was an unavoidable fact that a visit of a group of prominent American industrialists to the Soviet Union would be nothing less than a sensational event, into which the U.S. press as well as the foreign press would read all kinds of meanings. A negative press and public reaction would only contribute to the present tensions and make matters even worse than they are, thus prejudicing the chance for eventual improvement in those relations. On the other hand, in the event of a favorable press and public reaction, there is the grave danger that the press would go overboard and portray the visit as proof that Soviet policy had changed, that the cold war was over, and that accordingly the West could now relax, give up its rearmament and other defensive undertakings and assume normal relations with the Soviet Union. The Secretary said it was clear to him that both of these two possible reactions were not only undesirable, but indeed dangerous. In brief, it was his view that this was not the moment to undertake the proposed trip to the Soviet Union. The Secretary said that he was of course prepared to discuss the matter again with the group at such time as a change in the world situation might warrant a reconsideration of the project.
Before leaving, Mr. Pickett inquired whether the Secretary felt an unpublicized visit to the Soviet Union by a group of Quakers, if it were made possible by the Soviet Government, were equally undesirable at this time. The Secretary replied that although it would clearly not evoke the same sensational reaction in the press he nevertheless believed that the considerations he had already advanced had general application here. Mr. Pickett then asked whether, if such a project should become a real possibility in the future, he might discuss it with officials of the Department, to which the Secretary gave an affirmative answer.
- The appointment was arranged following a letter of April 5 from William Lancaster to the Secretary of State and a subsequent telephone call from Clarence Pickett, of undetermined date, to the Office of the Secretary of State. (032/4–551)↩
- Document 768.↩
- Not printed, but see footnote 3, ibid.↩
- Not printed.↩