184. Memorandum of Conference with the President1
OTHERS PRESENT
- General Twining
- General Goodpaster
The President greeted General Twining warmly, told him how delighted he is that he is making a good recovery, and welcomed him back to duty. He asked to what extent General Twining had found it possible to keep up with developments while convalescing. General Twining said he had kept up fairly well, having talked frequently with Mr. McElroy and General Picher.
The President said that one matter now current that concerns him very much is a question over basic military concept under discussion in the national security policy paper. It seems that the Army and the Navy want to divert money from our “big deterrent” to small war forces. He recalled that we had had a thorough study of this in 1953, culminating in the so-called “new look”. He did not think that we had gone too far in the direction suggested by that study, but Army and Navy seemed to think we had. He said he had developed language which seemed to him to express the position correctly, and there was agreement on this language. Mr. McElroy, however, wants to say that the new language does not in any way change the policy that has been in effect in the Department of Defense, and to this statement the Army and the Navy seemed to be opposed.
General Twining said that the State Department also has asked for substantial increases in conventional forces. The President commented that the State Department has now accepted the language of which he was speaking.
On another subject, the President recalled that, in connection with his reorganization plan of last year, a new procedure for three- and four-star officers had been instituted. He now thought [Facsimile Page 2] that perhaps there is reason not to apply this procedure to officers who have a purely single service function, such as the Chiefs of Bureaus in the Navy and of Technical Services in the Army. He does not want to put work before the JCS that is simply time consuming or pro forma—on which they have no judgment to contribute. He asked General Twining to give some thought to this matter.
[Typeset Page 794]General Twining said he wished to raise the question whether the net evaluation subcommittee, which is carrying out a special study this summer, with its regular report deferred until next January, might skip making a full study in mid-year 1960. The President suggested that he talk to Gordon Gray about this. The President commented on a study which he had suggested within recent days—to see what this country would really look like five days or so following nuclear attack. He had suggested that it ought to be conducted by a very small group—say five officers in the grade of Major or Lt. Colonel, plus a representative from OCDM. The task would be not to produce a long dissertation but to use imagination, and by pictures and figures try to convey just what the situation would be.
The President asked General Twining to what extent plans and operations in the Pentagon seemed to have been slowed down by the fire. General Twining said no slow down seems to be noticeable. The President reiterated what he has said on many previous occasions—that he feels there is a lot of unnecessary activity going on in the Pentagon, if one could only get at determining just what could be eliminated.
As the meeting ended the President asked General Twining how he is feeling from the standpoint of energy and personal comfort. General Twining said he is feeling quite good, but that it will be six to eight weeks, the doctors tell him, before he will be really recovered.
Brigadier General, USA
- Source: Basic national security policy; Department of Defense reorganization; Net Evaluation Subcommittee. Secret. 2 pp. Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, DDE Diaries.↩