Office of the Historian

142. Minutes of a Meeting of the Economic Defense Advisory Committee, Washington, January 23, 1957, 10 a.m.1

EDAC M–55
Washington, January 23, 1957, 10 a.m.

ATTENDANCE

  • MDAC
    • Admiral DeLany, Chairman
    • Mr. Hale
    • Mr. Levin
    • Mr. Kramer, Executive Secretary
    • Mrs. Lese, Committee Secretary
  • Agriculture
    • Mr. Burmeister
    • . . . . . . .
  • Commerce
    • Mr. Smith
    • Mr. Hockersmith
    • Mr. George
  • Defense
    • Capt. Thorp
    • Col. Green
    • Mr. Martino
  • ODM
    • Mr. Winant
  • State
    • Mr. Kalijarvi
    • Mr. Wright
    • Mr. Nelson
  • Treasury
    • Mr. Fields
    • Mr. Pollak
  • ICA
    • Mr. Arnold
    • Mr. Slaght
    • Mr. J. Tucker

[Here follows a listing of the agenda items.]

1. Review of Executive Committee draft of new overall policy statement.2

Decision

EDAC will meet on January 29 to consider the letter of transmittal to the CFEP and to review the draft policy statement as discussed and revised at this meeting.

Discussion

The Chairman opened the meeting with a brief report of his January 16 meeting with Mr. Randall.3 The high level views expressed in Mr. Randall’s memorandum of January 44 (EDAC D–127/1) prompted the Chairman to seek clarification from Mr. Randall. He [Page 413] confirmed that it was not Mr. Randall’s intent to inhibit the members in expressing their agencies’ views on trade. He also reported that Mr. Randall had called a CFEP meeting for the first week in February to consider the recommendations for an overall economic defense policy (February 7) and expected to receive the EDAC paper on this subject by the designated date of January 31. The Chairman, therefore, expressed the hope that the EDAC members could reach agreement on the paper prepared in the Executive Committee. He suggested a paragraph by paragraph review and invited the members to indicate any changes or adjustments which they felt were warranted.

In response to a request by the Chairman to brief the members on the development of the paper, the Executive Committee Chairman stated that the Executive Committee had attempted to outline a paper which, in the majority view, might be prepared most expeditiously and, as a basis, used the format devised by the CFEP staff in 1955 (CFEP 501/6, Enclosure #4). He explained that the EC had reorganized the paper in several respects with the view to making it more readable and understandable.

The courses of action with respect to China are presented in the last paragraph of the draft paper so that the mechanics of revision would be made easier. He said that it was the intention of the EC to meet this afternoon to draft a memorandum of transmittal from EDAC to CFEP to accompany the paper presently before EDAC. This memorandum will explain any major changes in policy, justify them to the extent considered necessary, and make such qualifications as EDAC deems advisable because of revisions necessitated by the bilaterals. He said the Executive Committee does not offer this paper as a document constituting in all respects the ideas of the member agencies. It does, however, constitute the best efforts of the Executive Committee to agree on a document.

The Chairman suggested that, in view of the deadline, the Group make a concerted effort to agree on a final version of the paper at this meeting. With this objective in mind, the members focused their attention on a paragraph by paragraph review of the draft document before them. Certain agreed changes were made and material, enclosed within brackets, was added to the document to indicate disagreed language supported only by the Department of Commerce.

[Page 414]

The Department of State reserved its position on paragraph 21 of the draft paper.5

  1. Source: Department of State, Economic Defense Files: Lot 59 D 665, EDAC Minutes. Secret.↩
  2. On January 11, Robert Wright sent a draft paper entitled “Proposed Revised Statement of Policy on Economic Defense” to officers of CA, RA, S/P, DFI, and EE under cover of a memorandum that summarized Randall’s request for EDAC recommendations regarding an overall economic defense policy. (Ibid.: Lot 64 D 234, Policy Review Papers—NSC 5704/1)↩
  3. No record of the meeting has been found in Department of State files.↩
  4. Supra.↩
  5. For text of paragraph 21, see infra. At its meeting on January 29, the Economic Defense Advisory Committee adopted the policy statement discussed at the meeting of January 23 and approved its transmittal to the CFEP. (Department of State, Economic Defense Files: Lot 59 D 665, EDAC Minutes) That same day, the EDAC submitted its recommendations for an overall economic defense policy to the CFEP, under cover of a memorandum from DeLany to Randall. (Eisenhower Library, White House Office Files) On January 31, the recommendations were circulated to the Council as CFEP 501/14, under cover of a memorandum by Paul Cullen. (Department of State, Economic Defense Files: Lot 59 D 439, China Trade Controls 1957)↩