Office of the Historian

80. Memorandum From the Operations Coordinator (O’Connor) to the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Merchant)0

Washington, August 26, 1959.

For your information or action, there is quoted below an excerpt from the preliminary and informal notes of U/OP on the OCB meeting of August 26:

“SEMI-ANNUAL APPRAISAL OF OPERATIONS PLAN FOR AND POLICY ON POLAND1

“Mr. Albert W. Sherer and Mr. Valdemar N. Johnson, of the Office of Eastern European Affairs, were present for the discussion of this item.

“In presenting this paper to the Board, the Acting Executive Officer noted that language in two paragraphs relating to Polish accession to the IMF, IBRD, and GATT,2 on which the Departments of State and Treasury differed, was now being discussed between State and Treasury in another forum and the Board, therefore, might wish to consider other aspects of the paper. The Board agreed that the Working Group should reflect the outcome of the State–Treasury discussions in the paper for approval by the Board Assistants for their principals.

“The Board discussed Ambassador Beam’s suggestion that consideration be given to how the widened channel to the Polish people and government flowing from the Vice President’s visit to Poland3 can best be kept open and exploited. Mr. Sherer pointed out that the Department had continually been exploring the potentialities of expanding contacts with the Polish people and government and that particular attention [Page 227] was currently being paid in this connection to the implication of the Nixon visit, the full results of which were not yet quite clear. He cited the factors which limited our rate of expansion of further contacts.

“Mr. Harr referred to the February 11, 1959 OCB Report on Poland (NSC 5808/1),4 which ‘noted that the U.S. is developing contingency positions with respect to the German-Polish border issue’ and asked the status of this action. Mr. Sherer explained that State is not developing such contingency positions since this would contravene current policy of dealing with the German question as a whole rather than ‘piecemeal’. Mr. Murphy observed that while he concurred generally in Mr. Sherer’s remarks with regard to further U.S. actions, he did not feel we should exclude the likelihood of some initiative on the part of the German Democratic Republic, noting the possibility of a relationship between the Polish and Berlin problems.

“The Board also discussed the paragraph of the Operations Plan with regard to the inter-relationship of a claims settlement with Poland and further economic assistance. Mr. Sherer set forth the facts with regard to the claims negotiations and noted that Ambassador Beam and the Polish Minister of Finance would be in the U.S. this autumn during which visit it could be expected that the claims settlement would be further examined. In response to a query of Mr. Harr as to how ‘hard-nosed’ the Department was in connecting the claim settlement with economic assistance, Mr. Sherer noted that while we had told the Poles in effect that we were willing to look sympathetically at any emergency needs they might have for assistance, we had at the same time indicated to the Poles that economic relations between Poland and the U.S. could not really be normalized until U.S. claims are settled.

“Mr. Sherer questioned whether the language agreed to between State and Treasury on IBRD and IMF may require a review of National Security Policy toward Poland. Mr. Harr conceded that this might be the case and implied that this would be one of the elements which the Board Assistants would review on behalf of their principals.

“Mr. Williams (Defense) complimented Mr. Sherer for a ‘fine job’ on the ‘comprehensive paper’.”

Jeremiah J. O’Connor5
  1. Source: Department of State, OCB Files: Lot 61 D 385, Poland General. Secret. Drafted by W. J. Sheppard of the Office of the Operations Coordinator.↩
  2. The Operations Plan for Poland, dated August 18, was a revision of the August 6, 1958, plan and earlier versions dated July 10, July 30, and August 6, as prepared by an OCB Working Group and reviewed and revised by the Board Assistants at their meeting on August 14. A copy of the Semi-Final Draft of the Semi-Annual Appraisal of Operations Plan for and Policy on Poland, dated July 10, which includes the July 10 draft of the Operations Plan for Poland, is ibid.: Lot 66 D 661, OCB Poland (NSC 5808/1). No copies of the other versions have been found. The August 6, 1958, plan the Board Assistants were considering, which was revised on September 23, 1959, is printed as Document 83.↩
  3. Reference is to paragraphs 9 and 40 in the Operations Plan for Poland. In the July 10 draft of this plan, these paragraphs concern the U.S. position toward Polish membership in the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, extension of most-favored-nation status to Poland, and Polish membership in GATT.↩
  4. See Document 76.↩
  5. Document 64.↩
  6. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩