20. Editorial Note

At the 409th meeting of the National Security Council on June 4, during a discussion of U.S. trade policy, Secretary of the Treasury Anderson commented on the deteriorating U.S. balance of payments. According to the memorandum of discussion by Deputy NSC Executive Secretary S. Everett Gleason, Anderson commented that if the balance of payments disparity continued for some years, the United States “would be in for real trouble,” since many experts considered it had “bitten off rather more obligations than we can chew.” For the relevant portion of the memorandum of discussion, see Document 101.