155. Memorandum of Conference with the President1
OTHERS PRESENT
- Secretary Herter
- General Goodpaster
The President said he had asked Secretary Herter to come over in order to talk about the set-up for the OCB. Mr. Harr had been in earlier in the morning, expressing essentially a concern that the OCB should not run out of steam, and that the shifts of top State personnel should not contribute to such a process. The President said he had given some consideration as to whether it would be of value to have Gordon Gray chair the Board, but had thought that it would not, largely because Mr. Gray is already carrying a maximum load. There are two questions that need consideration, however. The first is the reversal of the relationship of the Chairman of the Board to the Coordinator of Mutual Security incident to Dillon’s becoming Under Secretary and Murphy as the Board Chairman, being the No. 3 man in the State Department. The second is that there be no loss of enthusiasm for the OCB operations, and that the Chairmanship not be over slaughed by the changed arrangements. The President thought that this should be taken up in the letter of appointment of the new Chairman. He also asked Mr. Herter to make sure that Mr. Dillon maintains in Mutual Security operations a responsive regard for OCB activity.
Mr. Herter said that a lot of the difficulty is that the powers of the OCB are limited to recommendation alone. This is especially true in carrying out NSC policies. On the side of psychological activities, there is need for initiative and suggestions of a specific character. With regard to Mutual Security, his effort had been to keep the OCB away from the assertion of operating jurisdiction, especially on day to day and specific country decisions.
The President added that we have had one idea from the start with the OCB, and that is that it should press and prod the responsible agencies into action. The President said he did not think that [Facsimile Page 2] Murphy would be guilty of any errors of decision or blundering in the OCB; he implied some question as to whether Murphy would use the machinery vigorously enough, however. Mr. Herter thought that Mr. Murphy would be very valuable in the OCB because of the tremendous experience and detailed knowledge that he possesses over a very broad field of [Typeset Page 702] international affairs. He said he would be happy to talk to Mr. Harr. The President said that would be fine, and also suggested that Mr. Herter might have a luncheon with Dillon, Murphy and Harr present so that everything could be fully understood.
Secretary Herter next mentioned the issues that still remain regarding next steps by the United States on nuclear test suspension negotiations. He said he thought this could be worked out with Mr. McCone, and he would plan to bring in a very brief statement of the remaining issues at the meeting planned the following day with the President. He stressed the importance of trying to get the Soviets to go along with us on a few jointly conducted underground tests, the purpose of which would be to gain additional scientific (seismographic) data. The President agreed with this.
The President suggested that Mr. Herter might wish to have a special little luncheon for Sir Winston Churchill, on Tuesday or Wednesday. He said he would ask Mr. Churchill at once as to his desires. (Subsequently he informed Mr. Herter that Sir Winston preferred not to go out for luncheons.)
Brigadier General, USA
- Source: Department of State-OCB relationship, nuclear test ban negotiations. Confidential. 2 pp. Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, DDE Diaries.↩