146. Memorandum for the Record1

SUBJECT

  • Discussion with President Johnson—Wednesday afternoon—29 Apr. 4:45 in his office

PRESENT

  • The President and Mr. McCone

1. I reviewed in detail, and item by item, my memorandum of my discussion with General Eisenhower (memorandum dated April 27th).2

President Johnson made the following comments:

a. With respect to the organization of the Executive Office, the holding of frequent NSC meetings, the supporting of NSC with an Operations Coordinating Board and Planning Board, President Johnson said he had never heard of the idea before. He said that Eisenhower had never mentioned it to him nor did he recall that I had ever spoken about it. He said he thought the NSC was functioning satisfactorily, that it met when important or critical issues required a meeting, that the staff work was adequate and he was satisfied. He said the only thing that Eisenhower proposed to him was the replacement of McGeorge Bundy with Gordon Gray.

I said that I did not wish to belabor the point; I thought he had probably forgotten the discussion; that Eisenhower told me he had suggested that Johnson talk with Gordon Gray and General Goodpaster concerning the Eisenhower concept of a proper organization,3 but did not think that he had advocated placing Gordon Gray in the Executive Office nor had he advocated the removal of McGeorge Bundy. President Johnson said he did not recall any of this and therefore I dropped the matter.4

[Omitted here are summaries of other subjects discussed with the President.]

  1. Source: Johnson Library, John McCone Memoranda of Meetings with the President. Secret. McCone dictated the memorandum on April 30.
  2. Not found.
  3. See Document 139 and footnote 2 thereto.
  4. In a telephone conversation with McGeorge Bundy that began at 5:22 p.m. on June 18, the President mentioned a report “raising hell about the way we reorganized [the] Security Council.” Bundy responded: “Yep, this is straight Eisenhower. He feels this personally and strongly. It was an affront to him when we abolished the Operations Coordinating Board, and he’s taken my hide off personally about it a couple of times.” (Johnson Library, Recordings and Transcripts, Recording of a Telephone Conversation between President Johnson and McGeorge Bundy, Tape 64.34, Side B, PNO 3) The report mentioned by the President has not been identified.