611.51G/2–2454
Memorandum by the Counselor (MacArthur) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations (Morton)
When the Secretary met with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today to report on the Berlin Conference,1 both Senator Gillette and Senator Humphrey2 were extremely critical regarding our Indochina policy. Senator Gillette characterized it as illogical and unsound. Senator Humphrey said we had no plans for Indochina and that the testimony given by Admiral Radford, General Smith and Secretary Dulles was in his opinion conflicting and inconsistent.
I pass the foregoing information along simply as a matter of record so that the people in EUR and FE will know the kind of noise the two Senators are making with respect to Indochina. I should add [Page 1075] that one or two other voices chimed in, particularly Mike Mansfield, to the effect that our policy with respect to Indochina was thus far sound and that there are a great many imponderables in Indochina, Paris, etc., which probably made it very difficult to forecast the future with exactitude.
- For the testimony of the Secretary of State regarding the Berlin Conference, Feb. 24, 1954, see Executive Sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, vol. VI, pp. 153–184. For additional information on reports to Congress by Secretary Dulles on the Conference, see volume vii.↩
- Senators Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota and Guy M. Gillette of Iowa.↩