Office of the Historian

78. Telegram From the Embassy in Poland to the Department of State0

Warsaw, April 1, 1963, 3 p.m.

1518. Department telegram 1174.1 At lunch which I gave Ambassador Drozniak’s honor March 30 he described his call on Representative Mills in approximately same terms as outlined memcon his conversation Under Secretary Ball February 25.2 Said Mills told him he would support return MFN treatment to Poland and that his previous objection had been based primarily on Department’s granting MFN without proper legislative authority. Assume Department has checked Drozniak’s story with Mills. Would be interested hearing if Mills change of heart is as real as Drozniak appears to believe. Drozniak also told me his meeting two weeks ago with Gomulka, with whom he claims close association dating from war years, lasted three hours. Said believed Gomulka now has better understanding of strength of Congress in foreign policy formation.

3 In telegram 1199 to Warsaw, April 4, the Department of State reported that Mills had informed the White House that he would not actively oppose changes in MFN status of Poland and Yugoslavia. (Ibid.)

Cabot
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL Pol–US. Confidential. Repeated to Belgrade.↩
  2. Telegram 1174, March 30, reported that President Kennedy would seek amendment of the 1962 Trade Act to restore MFN status to Yugoslavia and Poland. (Ibid., FT 4 US/IEA)↩
  3. Not printed. (Ibid., POL Pol–US)↩