Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XXV, Organization of Foreign Policy; Information Policy; United Nations; Scientific Matters

137. Letter From Secretary of State Rusk to the Director of the U.S. Information Agency (Murrow)¹

Washington, July 11, 1962.

Dear Ed:

In a memorandum dated June 23 the President directed that a procedure be developed to guarantee coordination of economic and military aid agreements with foreign policy objectives before announcement of major aid actions.² Attached for your information, along with a copy of the President’s directive, is a copy of my reply dated July 11 describing steps being taken to ensure the necessary coordination.³

I would appreciate your cooperation and assistance in seeing that the actions of our respective departments and agencies fully meet the requirements which the President has set forth. Compliance with the President’s wishes will require close cooperation between appropriate members of your staff and Assistant Secretaries of the geographic bureaus of the Department of State to whom I have assigned full responsibility in this important area. I propose therefore that members of your staff who are responsible for actions of this character which have foreign policy implications consult, when and as appropriate, with the Assistant Secretaries of this department in order to effect coordination.

If you have further thoughts on this problem, I would be glad to hear from you or to discuss it with you.⁴

Sincerely,

Dean

1. Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 306, USIA Files: FRC 68 A 4933, Policy and Plans-Genl. (IOP)/62. Confidential.
2. For text, see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, vol. IX, Document 145.
3. For text, see ibid., Document 148.
4. In a July 16 letter, Murrow replied: “I have advised my policy people and the Assistant Directors of the Agency who head area offices of the contents of your letter to me of July 11, the memorandum addressed to you by the President of June 23 and your reply to him of July 11. I believe my principal officers have been working in close cooperation with the Assistant Secretaries in situations of the sort outlined, but I have asked them to be especially alert to the importance of the fullest coordination.” Murrow’s reply is attached to Rusk’s letter.