No. 799
Editorial Note

On March 3, President Truman approved a Department of State proposal to invite Austrian Chancellor Leopold Figl to Washington for a visit in May; these plans were made public in a press release issued on March 31. On April 30, the Department of State issued a press release announcing Figl’s itinerary which included arrival in New York on May 11, a visit to Washington from May 12 through May 16, a tour to Williamsburg, Niagara Falls, Detroit, Chicago, and Madison, ending in New York with departure scheduled for May 27. For text of these press releases, see Department of State Bulletin, April 14, 1952, page 585, and ibid., May 12, 1952, page 746.

[Page 1749]

Copies of the briefing papers, itinerary, and biographical sketches prepared for Figl’s visit are in Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 107. For a record of Figl’s meeting with Secretary of State Acheson and with President Truman on May 13, see telegram 2859 to Vienna, May 14, infra. For a record of a meeting between Austrian officials and representatives of the Department of State on May 14, see the memorandum of conversation by Rutter, Document 801. For a summary of Figl’s conversation with the Director for Mutual Security, W. Averell Harriman, on May 15, see Mustos 370 and 371, Documents 802 and 803.