136. Editorial Note
On March 12, 1963, Bronson Tweedy of the Central Intelligence Agency met with Assistant Secretary of State Wayne Fredericks and G. McMurtrie Godley, Director of the Office of Central African Affairs, to discuss the Congo. According to a memorandum of the meeting prepared on March 13 by Alfred Wellborn of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the following conversation took place regarding Prime Minister Adoula:
“Adoula’s Weaknesses and Possible Replacement. In reply to Mr. Godley, Mr. Tweedy said that Adoula’s performance in recent weeks had been very poor as regards those matters on which the Station had had contact with him. He appeared tired, disinterested, and lacking in the fighting spirit he had shown in the past. This led to a discussion of his possible replacement. Mr. Godley and Mr. Tweedy expressed the view that we should stay out of the jockeying attending a political reshuffle in the Congo. A number of political figures were mentioned as having certain assets but these were counterbalanced by serious shortcomings so that no one loomed as a candidate we should support. [name not declassified] was considered the brightest of the lot but so utterly unpredictable that it would be practically impossible to work with him. Mr. Fredericks inquired what were the Soviets doing. Mr. Tweedy said that there was no evidence that they were doing anything in particular.” (Department of State Files, INR/IL Historical Files, AF Meetings, 1963)