No. 780
Editorial Note
Shortly after her return to the United States at the beginning of July, Ambassador Luce came to Washington for meetings with various United States Government officials.
A memorandum of July 5 from Merchant to Murphy indicated that Luce planned to be in the Department of State July 6–9 and that the following appointments had been arranged for her: John Foster Dulles, July 6 at 2 p.m.; Scott McLeod, July 6 at 3 p.m.; Walter Bedell Smith, July 7 at 10:30 a.m.; Robert Murphy, July 7 at noon; Acting Secretary of Defense Robert K. Anderson, July 7 at 4 p.m.; Director of the United States Information Agency Theodore Streibert, July 8 at 10:30 a.m.; Allen Dulles, July 8 at 3 p.m.; and Harold Stassen, July 8 at 4:30 p.m. Attached to this memorandum was a briefing paper covering various subjects, including Trieste, anti-Communist measures through NATO, and the OSP and F–86–K programs, among other subjects, that Luce was expected to raise in her meeting with Murphy. (611.65/7–554)
A note in Secretary Dulles’ appointment book showed that Luce met with him at 2:13 p.m. on July 6 and that they were joined by Smith at 2:40. The ensuing discussion lasted approximately 30 minutes. [Page 1687] (Princeton University, Dulles papers, “Appointment Book”) No record of the substance of these conversations has been found in Department of State files. No record has been found in Department of State files of the substance of Luce’s scheduled conversations with McLeod, Anderson, and Allen Dulles. Memoranda of conversations she had on July 9 with Streibert and with Nedville E. Nordness, Assistant Director for Europe, United States Information Agency, are in Italian Desk files, lot 57 D 56, “705—USIE & VOA”. The only record relating to her scheduled meeting with Stassen was a briefing paper of July 6, prepared for Stassen by D. A. FitzGerald. (DMS files, lot W–1444, “Italy, 1954”)