Editorial Note
On June 11 in the course of his meeting with President Truman to discuss important foreign policy matters, Secretary of State Acheson went over the list of proposed Ambassadorial appointments for the immediate future. The Secretary’s brief memorandum of the discussion of Ambassadorial appointments reads in part as follows:
“We talked particularly about South Africa. The President is well aware of the delicacy of that situation and the importance of having a proven man there. I think he is most favorable to the suggestion made. I imagine that he will give me his final decision on it either Wednesday or Thursday.” (Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 238)
[Page 1453]At their meeting on June 21 the President and the Secretary again discussed Ambassadorial appointments. The Secretary’s memorandum read as follows:
“I raised with the President the list of suggested Ambassadorial changes which I had left with him on a previous meeting. He said that he still had not had time to get to this matter but that he would do so at once. He had been beneath such a vast accumulation of work.
“I particularly stressed the desirability of going ahead, if he should approve, with Mr. Gallman’s appointment.” (Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 238)
Waldemar J. Gallman, a career Foreign Service Officer who had been Ambassador in Poland from 1948 to 1950 and was currently serving as the Department of State Representative at the War College, was formally nominated by President Truman on July 30 to become Ambassador in the Union of South Africa. The South African Government’s agreement to Gallman’s nomination had been received on July 26. Gallman’s appointment was confirmed by the Senate on August 22. The Ambassador-Designate arrived in South Africa on September 25, but he was received for the first time by Prime Minister Malan only on October 9, and he presented his credentials to Governor General E. G. Jansen on October 18. Documentation on the nomination and accreditation of Ambassador Gallman appears in file 123 Gallman. Between October 27 and November 29, Ambassador Gallman called upon all the principal officers of the South African Government. For records of his conversations with External Affairs Secretary Forsyth on October 27, Defense Minister Erasmus on November 5, and Interior Minister Dönges on November 6, see despatches 269, October 30, infra; 296, November 5, page 1455; and 302, November 6, page 1457, all from Pretoria. Records of all the remaining conversations with government officials are in file 745A.13.