Office of the Historian

447. Memorandum of Conversation, June 23–June 24, between Jacques and Feldman1

June 23–24, 1961
[Facsimile Page 1]

SUBJECT

  • Textiles—Congressional Letters to President

PARTICIPANTS

  • Myer Feldman, The White House
  • S.B. Jacques, E/OR

1. As instructed by Under Secretary Ball, I telephoned Mr. Feldman on June 23 to inquire about the Congressional textile “petitions” which had been delivered to the White House that morning. Mr. Feldman asked me to stop in at his office the following morning for the letters.

2. On June 24, I called on Mr. Feldman. He handed over to me the two identical letters (copy attached) which had been received, one (Senate Committee on Appropriations letterhead) signed by 33 Senators and the other (Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee letterhead) signed by 122 Representatives. These letters criticized the Department’s plans for a multilateral arrangement on textiles.

3. Mr. Feldman said the letters had been delivered to him separately, by Senator Pastore in the one case and by Congressmen Vincent and Dorn in the other. He said he told them that they were being unfair to Mr. Ball in their criticisms; that Mr. Ball had simply given them a frank—perhaps, under the circumstances, too frank—appraisal of what he thought might come out of the negotiations; and that Mr. Ball was nevertheless not giving up but, instead, would try to get the most he could in the negotiations, perhaps even more than he currently anticipated. Mr. Feldman felt that, while he had not satisfied his visitors, he had nevertheless calmed them down.

[Facsimile Page 2]

4. On the question of replying, I mentioned that Mr. Ball was planning on drafting replies for the President’s signature. Mr. Feldman indicated some question as to the desirability of this. I said my impression was that, in view of the criticism and the accusations that he was not complying with the President’s directive, Mr. Ball apparently felt that the “laying on” of the Presidential hand at this stage was important to solidify his negotiating position. Mr. Feldman said his concern was at getting the President personally involved. I observed that this was really not a matter for me to discuss, and it was left on the basis that [Typeset Page 1763] Mr. Ball would have the replies drafted as he thought appropriate and the matter could then be pursued by him.

5. In closing, Mr. Feldman said that he had told the Congressmen it would be important for Mr. Ball to have their support in his upcoming negotiations and urged them to provide such support.

  1. “Textiles: Congressional Letters to the President.” Limited Official Use. 2 pp. Department of State, Central Files, 411.006/6–2461.↩