41. Letter From the Secretary of State to the President1
Dear Mr. President: I attended, for a short time this morning, the meeting at Secretary Benson’s office to discuss the cotton matter. Mr. Hoover was with me and also Secretary Humphrey and Secretary Weeks were there.
I tried to make clear that we in the State Department are working for the United States just as much as is anybody else and that I did not like it when it was intimated to Congress, as it so often is, that we were primarily concerned with pleasing foreign interests.
I said that if, for example, there was a projected cotton policy which would gravely disrupt the economy of Mexico and which, because of its effect on Pakistan and Egypt, would jeopardize the oil situation in the Middle East, then I thought there was a duty to point that fact out. If it was decided nevertheless to go ahead I would, of course, abide by that decision.
In the present case the Agriculture Department policy was, as you know, opposed by all of the other agencies represented on the Dodge Committee. It was very strongly opposed by Secretary Humphrey and Secretary Weeks. However, it is convenient for the Department of Agriculture people, at the lower level, to concentrate blame on the State Department. I told Secretary Benson that I thought that ought to stop. He agrees but admits that it is easier said than done.
Dr. Hauge who was present will tell you about the substance of the meeting.
[Page 134]I stopped in to see Senator George at his apartment last evening and we had quite a lengthy and very intimate talk. Although our talk covered many things, he did not once mention cotton.
Faithfully yours,
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Dulles–Herter Series.↩