2. Letter From the President to the Secretary of State1
Dear Foster: I am not certain that you had a copy of a recent note sent to me by Cabot Lodge. I quote its text:
“There is no doubt that Bulganin’s letter2 made a big impression at the UN. The so-called ‘uncommitted’ countries seemed to agree with it and thought his points were reasonable. The countries on our side thought it was clever.
“I certainly wish we could get things organized so that we could make frequent specific offerings liberally peppered with sweet talk—for which the world, as I judge it here at the UN, has an apparently insatiable appetite.
[Page 4]“This should not necessarily mean new policy decisions (useful though they undoubtedly are), but a technique of ‘ringing the changes’ on the policies we already have. We should be the ones to make the advances.”
It seems to me that what Cabot is referring to are procedures and methods at the United Nations, rather than guidance, as to substance, from the State Department. I see some advantage of wrapping our proposals in different packages occasionally and tying them up in different colored ribbons.
I have already acknowledged Cabot’s note.
As ever,
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 310.311/1–358. Attached to the source text was a copy of a January 3 letter from Dulles to Eisenhower which stated, “I have your letter of January 3. I think Cabot sent me a copy of his note to you. I quite agree with his point of view.” No copy of the letter from Lodge to the President has been found.↩
- For text of Bulganin’s letter, December 10, 1957, see Department of State Bulletin, January 27, 1958, pp. 127–130.↩