DEPARTMENT OF STATE THE SECRETARY
The Secretary telephoned Mr. Dulles, at Mr. Dulles' request to advise him what he should say to Mr. Stassen who wanted to see Mr. Dulles on Friday.
The Secretary said that he thought Mr. Dulles should try to leave the matter of the letter alone and that he, the Secretary, had refused to comment on it in the press conference the day before.
Mr. Dulles said in quite strong terms that he thought Stassen had done a foolish thing from a desire to be spectacular. He said Mr. Stassen had attempted to give the impression that he had consulted Mr. Dulles, which the latter had denied, although he said they had talked about foreign affairs in general before Stassen's speech.
Mr. Dulles wanted to know whether the Secretary would put any obstacles in the way of Stassen's going to Russia. The Secretary said that a request from Stassen for a passport would present serious considerations; that he thought it would be bad to create confusion about peace efforts with the Russians through such a channel, when we were faced with the job of continuing to press ahead with getting a real defense program.
Mr. Dulles said he would try to persuade Stassen from taking the trip.
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