Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XIII, Western Europe and Canada

419. Memorandum of Conversation⁰

Washington, March 8, 1961.

SUBJECT

• Call on the President prior to departure for post

PARTICIPANTS

• The President
• Livingston T. Merchant, Ambassador-Designate to Canada

The President saw me this morning for about fifteen minutes to pay my farewell respects. At the outset I told him I thought Prime Minister Diefenbaker’s visit had been a great success and that the Canadians were extremely happy as a result.

The President said that he liked the Prime Minister and gained the impression that on any really important issue he would be stoutly on our side. I agreed fully and commented that, despite its large majority and its three years in office, the Diefenbaker government never seemed fully to have gained self-confidence, and hence it had been exposed to attacks from the opposition on ground originally occupied by the Conservative Party.

The President inquired whether the problem of oil bunkering which the Prime Minister raised with him had been successfully solved. I told him that a formula had been worked out in the Department with the Treasury Department which should now be on Secretary Rusk’s desk. I said that the formula would appear to meet the Canadian problem. The President expressed pleasure and hope that this difficulty would be promptly disposed of.

The President then inquired how we were coming on military arrangements with the Canadians and what the real basis of our difficulties were. I said that I understood talks had already been resumed with the Defense Department representatives on the problems relating to nuclear storage in Canada. This was one area of difficulty. Other related ones were the question of nuclear armaments for the RCAF and participation in NATO stockpile arrangements for the Canadian brigade in Germany. I said fundamentally the Canadians were concerned over appearing to be too closely tied, and hence subordinated to the United States in continental defense arrangements. This they felt presented to them domestic political difficulties. They would prefer if our general defense arrangements could be under NATO rather than a bilateral umbrella.

We then briefly discussed the range of economic problems with Canada, on which the President is well informed.

Finally, the question came up as to the projected visit of the President to Canada in June to address a joint session of Parliament. He indicated clearly that he would like to restrict the period of his visit to the minimum necessary to achieve the desired effect. In answer to his questions, I told him that the customary period for an official visit would be approximately three days and three nights, entailing being guest of honor at a dinner at Government House the first evening, and returning the dinner at the Embassy the following evening. The President asked that I bear in mind his desire to keep the period short and expressed the hope that it would be acceptable to the Canadians for him to come up one afternoon, attend the Governor General’s dinner, give in return an official luncheon at the Residence for the Governor General the following day, address Parliament that same afternoon, and return late that same afternoon or early evening to Washington.

I said that undoubtedly the question of timing and the character of the visit would be one of the first things the Prime Minister would raise with me and that I would be guided by the President’s desires. He indicated some flexibility, and as to a date said that under his present schedule he could do it almost any time in June.

In taking my leave I mentioned to the President that Mr. Diefenbaker placed great store on a personal relationship and I hoped that the President would bear in mind that whenever an issue of importance arose where we needed Canadian support, the most effective means of gaining it would be a personal note from him to the Prime Minister. The President indicated interest and asked me to recommend to him the transmission of a personal message at any time when I thought it might be useful.

0. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.42/3–861. Confidential. Drafted by Merchant and approved in M on March 8. Merchant presented his credentials on March 15.