Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XII, American Republics

313. Memorandum of Conversation¹

Washington, July 10, 1961.

PARTICIPANTS

• President John F. Kennedy
• Mr. Robert F. Woodward

President Kennedy said that he would like to have Mr. Hill² come up from Ciudad Trujillo so that the President can have a thorough conversation with him and become well acquainted with him. The President is particularly interested in having Mr. Hill’s personal appraisal of the kind of people who are in the various opposition groups.

The President said that any day would be all right with him and that arrangements can be made for the specific appointment through Mr. O’Donnell, the appointments secretary, but it was clear that the President would like to see Mr. Hill at the end of this week or the beginning of next. Naturally, it would be risky for Mr. Hill to count on seeing the President either on Saturday or Sunday.

President Kennedy said that he would like to have a personal conversation with the officer that we are trying to find who could establish a close liaison with student groups; I had explained to the President that we were endeavoring to find an officer who had highly proved his ability in this respect. The President would also like to see the officer that I told him we were trying to find with similar qualifications for establishing relationships with labor groups.

President Kennedy said that he thought we should be in a position to suggest to President Balaguer a specific program of action for bringing about the democratization of the country. What the President has specifically in mind is the possibility that it would be useful for the Dominican Government to take steps to call a constitutional convention if an examination of the constitution indicates that its present form does not allow for the conduct of political campaigns by political parties. He mentioned the possibility that the country might, for example, need a new constitution, and he suggested that we find out what the Pakistani Government is doing in its efforts to work out its transition from a military government to a more democratic form of government. He mentioned that the Legal Adviser should be able to give some legal advice along this line. He said “He’s from Harvard and a smart guy.”

[Here follows discussion of preparations for the Punta del Este Meeting of the IA-ECOSOC.]

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 739.00/7-1061. Confidential. Drafted by Woodward. No mention of this meeting was made in the President’s Appointment Book.
2. John Calvin Hill replaced Dearborn as U.S. Consul General in Ciudad Trujillo.