Office of the Historian

14. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, October 1, 1965.

SUBJECT

  • Defense Department Views on Trade with Eastern European Countries

PARTICIPANTS

  • The Secretary of the Department of Defense, Robert S. McNamara
  • The Ambassador Designate to Poland, John A. Gronouski
  • Mr. Kenneth Roberts, OSD/ISA
  • Mr. Arthur W. Barber, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Arms Control, OSD/ISA
  • Mr. Walter E. Jenkins, Jr., Officer in Charge of Polish Affairs
[Page 54]

In the course of a conversation with Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara on October 1, 1965, Postmaster General John A. Gronouski, our Ambassador-Designate to Poland, inquired about the attitude of the Defense Department regarding U.S. trade with Eastern European countries. Secretary McNamara stated that the Defense Department completely favored such trade.

Noting that in the past most of such trade with Poland had been in agricultural products, the Postmaster General asked whether the attitude Secretary McNamara had expressed also extended to industrial items, including those of heavy-industry items, which have been coming up for consideration recently. Secretary McNamara assured Ambassador-Designate Gronouski that it did and indicated that the only exception would be highly technical strategic products and equipment.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, FT EUR E–US. Confidential. Drafted by Jenkins.↩