Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume VIII, International Monetary and Trade Policy

359. Telegram From the Mission in Geneva to the White House¹

Geneva, May 16, 1967, 1902Z.

3694. GATT for the President from Roth.

1. Mr. President. Mike and I deeply appreciated your cable² on the agreement we reached yesterday in the Kennedy Round. This successful outcome was due, in large part, to the fine spirit displayed by our agency representatives in Geneva. Under Secretary Schnittker, Ambassador Trezise, Weaver of Labor, Greenwald of State, McNeill of Commerce, Shooshan of Interior, Ryss of Treasury, among others, took important negotiating assignments in the final difficult weeks. They worked with the Geneva delegation as a single and effective team. Mike as you know is a tremendous negotiator and performed brilliantly. Equally important, however, was the great backstopping of Francis and his control group in Washington.³ Again, we are deeply appreciative.

2. Basically, I feel we have achieved a reciprocal bargain that can be fully and honestly defended in the coming months as being in the overall interest of American industry, labor and agriculture. Thank you very much for your confidence and support.

Tubby

1. Source: Johnson Library, Bator Papers, Chron, Box 5. Confidential; Exdis. A handwritten note on the source text reads: “This was sent directly to the Pres. when it came off the wire. LSE[agleburger]”.
2. Document 358.
3. In telegram 3697 from Geneva, May 16, Roth sent the following message to Bator: “Now that the frenzy is over and only disagreeable details remain to be put together, Mike and I would like to express our deep thanks to you for holding the Washington end together while we were wildly circling in Geneva. I frankly don’t know how we could have pulled this off in the last final weeks without the kind of home-front support that you gave us. We are both deeply grateful.” (Johnson Library, Bator Papers, Chron, Box 5)