Office of the Historian

Truman Library, Spingarn papers, FTC International file

The President to the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (Mead)

secret
[Washington,] August 15, 1952.1

Dear Mr. Chairman: I have given consideration to your letter of August 15th2 about the release of the report prepared by your staff on the International Petroleum Cartel. You state in your letter that you have made an attempt to meet the security considerations with respect to this report which were discussed in my letter of June 5, 1952,3 to you, and in the Central Intelligence Agency’s special estimate of May 8th4 which accompanied my letter; and you transmit with your letter proposed deletions and revisions in the staff report designed for this purpose. You inquire whether in view of the passage of time or any possible changes in the circumstances which may have prompted my letter of June 5th, I would now feel it appropriate to authorize the publication of the staff report at this time with the deletions and revisions which you have suggested.

I am glad to advise you that I would not object to the declassification and release of the staff report at this time if the deletions and revisions suggested by you are made.5

Sincerely,

Harry S. Truman
  1. A handwritten note in the margin of the source text indicates the following: “This letter drafted by SJS [Stephen J. Spingarn] & taken to White House by him Friday Aug. 15 & given to Admiral Dennison. President signed this letter Sat. A.M., Aug. 16.”↩
  2. Supra.↩
  3. Ante, p. 1275.↩
  4. Ante, p. 1272.↩
  5. The amended and abridged version of the staff report by the Federal Trade Commission on the International Petroleum Cartel was published on Aug. 22, 1952, by the Senate Select Committee on Small Business, under the chairmanship of Senator John Sparkman (D.–Ala.).↩