Eisenhower Library, Dulles papers, “Telephone Conversations”
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation1
personal and private
Telephone Conversation With Mr. Lourie
The Secretary called to ask whether Mr. Lourie was seeing the Capitol people and Mr. Lourie replied that he was working on a letter to Sen. McCarthy, he hoped to get the Matson case cleared up and then sit down and talk to the Senator. He said that the Senator had asked for all the political guidance material from the IIA and it is the type of material which he shouldn’t have since it reveals our foreign policy aims. He thought it might be necessary eventually for the President and the Secretary to get into this.
The Secretary wants to find a basis for cooperation with McCarthy and not be opposing everything that he wants to do. He said that it is the political equivalent of the early 1930’s when the Democrats were digging up all the dirt in preceding Republican administrations, and that we as Republicans must not be put in a position of defending all the past mistakes of this administration. The campaign brought out all these things and the people apparently [Page 1437] wanted a change and wanted these things brought out or they would have continued the old administration in power. When it comes to the political directives, it may be quite true that all of them cannot be given out without harm to security but many of them can.
Mr. Lourie thinks that if he can talk off the record with the Senator he can settle the Matson case, and let the Senator know that we are willing to cooperate.
The Secretary also pointed out that we know there has been lots of sloppiness and inefficiency, some of this would probably be brought out by the directives. Don’t take an arbitrary position on the sanctity of all of this stuff which merely means that we are protecting the past mistakes and will turn the Republicans in Congress against us.
- Drafted by Secretary Dulles’ personal secretary Burnita O’Day.↩