Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation, lot 65 D 238, “Memoranda from S & U”
No. 560
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by
the Special Assistant to the Secretary of
State (Kitchen)
Mr. Acheson, after talking with Mr. Foster1 and Mr. Lawton,2 telephoned Mr. Tannenwald and reported to him the subject of his [Page 1288] conversations. The Secretary stated that he did not believe he had made much impression on Mr. Lawton, that he had read him a cable which mentioned the fall of the French Government and that it might be a revolt which might blossom into a dangerous situation against EDC and the Schuman Plan. Mr. Acheson had asked Mr. Lawton to resolve any questions of doubt in favor of a larger figure. Mr. Lawton said he had raised the figure to $4,000,000 for 1954 and he thought $3.6 was better for 1953. Lawton had said the expenditure amounts would show upon on the monthly report and that we weren’t kidding anyone. Tannenwald said that on the other hand there was no value in gratuitously pointing out that the reports would be bad for the next six months. Mr. Acheson said he had told Lawton that he couldn’t argue about the facts and Lawton said he would do the best he could.