Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Asia and the Pacific, Volume VI, Part 2

891.2311/2–151

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State

top secret

[Washington,] February 1, 1951.

Meeting With the President

item 3. wheat for india

I went over this situation with the President and left with him the two memoranda and the copy of the proposed message.¹ I said that I should like to revise my memorandum to him before signing it for the final record. I believe that the President approves of the course recommended although he has not given his final authorization to go forward. He agreed to the following arrangements:

(1) He would see the Congressional group which wrote him the letter endorsing the wheat for India proposal.² He was not sure whether he should see a committee representing the group or all the group. Mr. Connelly³ at the White House will discuss the matter with someone from the Senate and someone from the House and will make a decision. He doubts whether he can see the group today, but will try to do so tomorrow.

(2) Regarding Mr. Hoover, he asked me to see Mr. Julius Klein⁴ and prepare him for the President’s call to Mr. Hoover. He did not wish Mr. Hoover to reject the President’s proposal as a matter of first impression.

(3) He will talk to the leaders, with whom he would ask Senator Connally to be present, on Monday⁵—that is, he will talk to the Big Four⁶ plus Senator Connally.

(4) He cannot agree to a specific day for his message to Congress because he wishes his next message to be the tax message. However, he hopes that he can closely approximate the day we suggested. I think we had probably better leave the matter where it is until I can mention it again to the President after Cabinet tomorrow.

1. Reference is presumably to the Secretary’s memorandum to the President: of February 2, p. 2109, with its two attachments.
2. The letter, dated January 30, was signed by the following bipartisan group: Senators William Benton, Paul H. Douglas, Ralph E. Flanders, Robert C. Hendrickson, Hubert H. Humphrey, Irving M. Ives, Herbert H. Lehman, Warren G. Magnuson, Wayne L. Morse, Joseph C. O’Mahoney, James E. Murray, Leverett Saltonstall, H. Alexander Smith, and Charles W. Tobey and Representatives Frances P. Bolton, Thurmond Chatham, James G. Fulton, Christian A. Herter, Jacob K. Javits, Walter H. Judd, Edna F. Kelly, Mike Mansfield, Thomas E. Morgan, and Abraham A. Ribicoff. The text of the letter appears in Congressional Record, vol. 97, pt. 4, p. 5262.
3. Matthew J. Connelly, Secretary to President Truman.
4. Julius Klein, business consultant; formerly Assistant Secretary of Commerce, 1929–1933.
5. February 5.
6. Vice President Alben W. Barkley; Representative Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Senator Ernest W. McFarland, Senate Majority Leader; Representative John W. McCormick, House Majority Leader.