Office of the Historian

199. Memorandum From Alfred Jenkins of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow)1

Washington, November 4, 1966.

SUBJECT

  • Lifting Remaining Travel Restrictions on China

At the last EA (formerly FE) /IRG meeting, the Acting Chairman Sam Berger raised the only voice in dissent to the China Working [Page 417] Group’s proposal that the few remaining restrictions on travel to China be removed (Tab A).2 One other member, the CIA representative, had some reservations but did not oppose. It was strongly supported by Defense and AID representatives and by ACA. Sam simply feels that this is a curious time to lift the ban in view of unsettled political conditions on the mainland. He thinks we could get adverse domestic reaction for that reason.

So far, reaction to each of the several stages of liberalization of travel has met with very good public reception and most of us at the meeting felt that this would be true of this proposed final step. There is a new requirement that justification for restrictions be printed in the Federal Register (Tab B).3 I think we would be more likely to incur unfavorable domestic reaction by failing to lift the negligible remaining restrictions, since I don’t believe we can make a convincing case that “travel would seriously impair the conduct of United States foreign affairs.” Short of that, I think the average citizen would (and should) interpret the continuation of such restrictions as overly paternalistic management of mature Americans. The academic community particularly is very vocally critical of our present remaining restrictions—on both political and “citizens’ rights” considerations.

I don’t think this is one the White House really needs to fight for but if the issue should come up at the weekly luncheon or otherwise, I recommend that you take a quietly favorable attitude toward the Working Group’s unanimous recommendation to the IRG. Berger is doing a memo to the Secretary.4

Al Jenkins
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, China, Vol. VII. Secret. Copies were sent to Jorden and Ropa.↩
  2. Tab A, a copy of the report of the China Working Group to the Far East Interdepartmental Regional Group proposing the removal of restrictions on travel to Communist China by U.S. citizens, undated, is attached but not printed. Another copy of the report is filed with the minutes of the November 2 meeting of the Far East Interdepartmental Regional Group in Department of State, FE/IRG Files: Lot 70 D 56. The Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs became the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs on November 1, and the Far East Interdepartmental Regional Group changed its name accordingly.↩
  3. Not attached to the source text.↩
  4. Not found.↩