Office of the Historian

U/MSA files, lot 56 D 551, “Secty Memos of Conv”

Memorandum by the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State (O’Connor) to the Acting Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Mutual Security Affairs (Nolting)

Washington, March 20, 1954.

Re the Secretary’s conversation Thursday night1 with Mr. Stassen, I tried to debrief the Secretary on his dinner with Mr. Stassen and all I could get was the following fragmentary report. If this is inadequate or does not make sense let me know and I will go back to the charge.

1.
Mr. Stassen thinks it is all right to continue another year or two on the present legislative organizational setup.
2.
Mr. Stassen thinks that the $850 million for food is too high a figure.
3.
On the East-West Trade talks, he would be willing to go abroad to open the talks and perhaps stay a week but he does not wish to stay on while the talks drag on discussing item after item on the list.
R. L. O’Connor
  1. Mar. 18.↩