856. Letter from Johnson to Moorman1
It now appears that today may well be the last meeting at which Lt. Col. Robert B. Ekvall will serve as interpreter for my talks with the Chinese Communists. Therefore, I desire to take advantage of this opportunity again to express to you and to the United States Army my most sincere appreciation for your courtesy and cooperation in making Col. Ekvall available for this long and arduous duty, as well as again [Typeset Page 1474] to express my high opinion of Col. Ekvall. I have most highly valued him not only as an exceptionally able interpreter but also for his advice on substantive matters. He has a keen and accurate sense of probable Chinese Communist reactions and of their psychology which has been very helpful to me. I greatly regret that he is required to retire from the Army and will thus no longer be available for this duty.
Sincerely yours,
American Ambassador
- Source: Department of State, Geneva Talks Files, Lot 72D415. No classification marking. Moorman was in Paris. A copy was sent to the Department.↩