February 21, 1949
MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION With Former Justice Owen D. Roberts
Former Justice Owen D. Roberts called at his request. He wished to tell me about a project which he, Will Clayton, a Mr. Moore who was with the Citizens' Committee for the Marshall Plan, Robert Patterson, and some others were engaged in. This project is to get resolutions introduced in Congress calling on the President to appoint delegates to talk with the Powers included in the Atlantic Pact on the subject of forming a Federation which would have many of the aspects of a federal sovereignty. Justice Roberts assured me that all of these men were in favor of the Atlantic treaty and that this was not a substitute for it, but was pushing the idea further.
Justice Roberts went on to say that he and Mr. Clayton had discussed this matter with the President, assuring him of their support of the treaty and quoted the President as saying he did not see anything harmful or inconsistent to or with his purposes.
I said to Justice Roberts that I wished he would discuss with his associates the question of not getting the idea which he had in mind before Congress during the pendency of the Atlantic treaty. I said that, while it was possibly true that there was nothing inconsistent between the treaty and his plan and that the treaty might well be regarded as a first step, nevertheless I felt that it would be a confusing maneuver at this time and would permit many people in the Senate who would like to find some justifiable reason to oppose the treaty to do so on the ground that it did not go far enough and would permit such people to favor instead an idea which would take many years to work out. In support of the statement that such a project as his would take considerable time to effectuate, I talked to him as I had to the House and Senate Committees, pointing out the difficulties of political union in certain fields until the various nations involved had reached an approximately equal stability in the financial, economic and social fields.
The Justice said that he would report our conversation and ask his associates to consider my points.
I think that it might be very useful if Mr. Clayton is going to be in this part of the country to have a talk with him along these lines because I can see a good deal of confusion both in the Congress, in the press, and in the public discussion arising if both of these matters come up simultaneously.
I am attaching also a memorandum sent me some days ago by Mr. Clayton, which may be of some interest in view of his connection with this proposal.
Dean Acheson DA:be