510. Diary Entry by the President, April 25, 19601
[Here follow entries unrelated to Cuba.]
A little later Mr. Pawley came in to see me about our relationships with Cuba.2 He is very knowledgeable in this area and since he has divested himself of his commercial interests in the Latin American area, I find it profitable to talk with him. He seems to think that a modicum of sense is not [now?] characterizing some of Castro’s grandiose programs and plans. He believes, as does Harry Guggenheim, that our relationship with the whole of Latin America would be much improved if we should appoint an Under Secretary with duties confined to this hemisphere. I brought up this idea to the State Department many times over the past few years—the staffs there are always so bitterly opposed that I am becoming quite sure that I am right. This morning I told Secretary Herter3 that if I was to be put off in this matter again, I wanted to have some very convincing reason.
[Here follow entries unrelated to Cuba.]
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, DDE Diaries. The source text bears the following note: “Dictated by DDE.”↩
- The President met with Pawley, 9: 14–9: 34 a.m. (ibid., President’s Daily Appointments)↩
- Apparently a reference to the President’s meeting with Herter and Goodpaster, 11: 25–11: 32 a.m. (ibid.) No record of this meeting has been found.↩