Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volumes VII, VIII, IX, Arms Control; National Security Policy; Foreign Economic Policy, Microfiche Supplement

462. Memorandum of Conversation, November 27, between Herter and Schaetzel¹

November 27, 1962

SUBJECT

• Trade Expansion Act

PARTICIPANTS

• Governor Herter
• J. Robert Schaetzel

Mr. Herter said he was not quite sure why he had accepted the job and that in his discussion of the matter with the President he had made it quite clear that his willingness to take it on turned on a broad mandate. As this was the kind of task outlined by the President, Mr. Herter had asked if he would be prepared to give him a letter to this effect, which the President had done the following day. Mr. Herter also said that he had an understanding that he would take time off from the job as he was no longer as young as he once was. Mr. Herter indicated that David Bell and Mike Feldman had been in touch with him and they had promised to bring before him the draft Executive Order. He also showed me a memorandum from Mike Feldman which indicated again the broad concept of the position suggested earlier by the President. Mr. Herter said he expected to be sworn in on December 10 but that he would be going away on December 17 until early in January due to a previous commitment.

We discussed at some length the problems of staff, relationship to the White House and the State Department. Mr. Herter seemed to accept the merits of a simple Executive Order with no reference to intradepartmental committees other than the “Agency” set forth in the Act. He seemed intrigued by the manner in which the Department might support his efforts as I outlined it to him. I said that there were four parts of the Department which should be considered an extension of his own staff, the principal point being the Economic Bureau, then the Legal Adviser’s office, my responsibility and, finally, the Public Affairs area. I suggested that one responsible officer in each of these bureaus should be designated as individuals on whom Governor Herter and his staff had priority claim. In other words the work of Mr. Herter’s office was their first order of business. I said that in addition there ought to be a more senior group willing to work with him and be of assistance at any juncture. In this connection I suggested Griff Johnson, Abe Chayes, Bob Manning and myself. (I had earlier had a chance to discuss this type of arrangement with Dave Bell who felt it was entirely sensible.)

As far as his own staff was concerned it was clear that Mr. Herter was almost overwhelmed by the volume of congratulations, inquiries and suggestions. He told me Gossett was about 95 per cent firm as his Deputy. He was impressed by the amount of White House support and McNamara’s endorsement of the man. One reservation was Gossett’s own ambition to be President of the Bar Association which seemed a likely prospect if he were to remain outside the Government. Mr. Herter took a telephone call while I was there and said subsequently that some people seem to be pulling back a bit from Gossett but he personally felt a commitment had been made and he wanted to move ahead with the appointment.

Mr. Herter said he had also had a discussion with Mike Rashish and that the latter was very sensitive about his status, the emoluments of the job and the “need” for a special position to carry on effective intradepartmental work. In this connection Mr. Herter said he did not like the idea of more than one Deputy. We discussed as well the dangers implicit in establishing several positions requiring Senatorial confirmation in that this would turn the Governor into a focal point for special interest group pressures. He said he had already had recommendations from the textile industry that Hickman Price should be a Deputy; there were also recommendations coming from the agriculture interests. Due to the limitations of the Act, the Governor thought it might be necessary to go back to the Congress for authority to hire a small staff. I said that in my view, if he were to start out with himself, Gossett and Mike Rashish he would have an ideal nucleus.

I discussed quite candidly with Mr. Herter the problem he would have to deal with in Mike Feldman. I said that I approached this subject not in any ad hominem fashion or indeed in terms of policy disagreements between the Department and Feldman but rather that the Governor and Feldman had different concepts about the objectives to be served by the Trade Expansion Act. The Governor agreed that it was his task to keep uppermost the broad national interest and particularly to mobilize those United States interests which would support Trade Expansion authority.

Mr. Herter’s reservation about an early trip to Europe as well as involvement in such problems as the wool issue are due to his desire to brief himself. He emphasized his need to know more about the way the legislation would work. Nonetheless, he said he would be willing to meet with Walter Hallstein if the latter happened to come to Washington on December 7 or 8 (subsequently ruled out by a telegram from Brussels).

Mr. Herter brought up the wool problem himself. He had discussed the matter with Mike Feldman, and quoted the latter as saying his letter was not a commitment to the textile industry. Governor Herter said he was somewhat at a loss to see how the language could be interpreted as other than a form of commitment. I took the occasion to outline the situation as we saw it following, but not referring to Mr. Ball’s memorandum to Mr. Feldman. It is clear that Mr. Herter is not anxious to be drawn into the middle of this difficult problem. His feeling seems to be that either it should be kept in abeyance until he can look into it and have a major voice in the decision or that it should be settled by others and that he will then take over a finished piece of business.

In a considerable discussion of the agricultural question, Mr. Herter was appreciative of the European interest in expanding agricultural production, their extensive agricultural pressures, and a realistic awareness that Secretary Freeman and others in Washington are to some extent transferring domestic agricultural pressures onto the European scene. He also was aware of the danger that the Department of Agriculture might want to make excessive use of the Trade Expansion Program as a means of dealing with difficult internal political problems.

I outlined in some detail the evolving situation in Europe, the new difficulties in the UK-Six negotiations, the fact that one cannot assume automatic European interest in moving quickly and broadly on trade negotiations. I also outlined to him the problem on poultry and the reasons why we were laying such emphasis on this commodity. He showed a keen awareness of the economics of the poultry business and the extent to which Europeans are already and will increasingly in the future employ in Europe the advanced poultry production techniques developed in the United States.

Governor Herter asked me about the private organizations active in this field and how they should be used in the future. He particularly inquired into the Committee for a National Trade Policy. I said they certainly should be kept in being and should be encouraged to do two tasks: first, to generate support in Europe for a major reciprocal reduction of trade barriers and, second, to support him domestically against the special interest groups. For specific information I suggested that I have Mrs. Morgan get in touch with him, noting that she had done very effective work in this area for Howard Peterson. He welcomed this suggestion and I arranged for Mrs. Morgan to see him the following day.

We also discussed some of the demands he was already receiving from organizations asking him to speak or meet with them. He said he was turning all of these down. As he had mentioned Blough of the Business Advisory Council, I said Jean Monnet had been asked to meet with the same group in January. Mr. Herter felt it would be helpful if Monnet and he could meet with a key group such as Blough and his associates during January at the time of Monnet’s visit.

Mr. Herter asked if it would be possible to get Ambassadors Tuthill and Leddy and Evans over to meet with him in January. I said this was an excellent idea and we would be glad to arrange it at his convenience.

1. “Trade Expansion Act.” Confidential. 4 pp. Department of State, Central Files, 411.0041/11–2762.