DEPARTMENT OF STATE THE SECRETARY
April 4, 1950
MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION WITH THE PRESIDENT
\( For Secretary's Files Only\)
During a telephone conversation with the President at Key West today, he mentioned the subject of an appointment for Mr. John Foster Dulles, and said he had been thinking the matter over and thought that it would be useful if we could work out something in the line of consultant to the Secretary of State on Bi-Partisan Foreign Policy. The President did not want him appointed Ambassador-at-Large.
The Secretary mentioned to the President that Senator Vandenberg in a letter to the Secretary had said that in thinking over the names of Republicans who might be helpful in continuing the bi-partisan approach, the first name that would come to mind among the Republicans would be John Foster Dulles. The Secretary said he was planning to see Vandenberg today and would like to talk the matter over with him, but had hoped to get the President's ideas on the subject before doing so. The Secretary thought that it would be very helpful if something along the lines of the President's suggestion could be worked out.
The President stressed that he would like the appointment to be one which would not harm Mr. Dulles's dignity, but that because of his ideas as expressed in last fall's campaign on domestic matters, he did not feel he could make him part of the Administration domestically. The Secretary agreed with this view.
\(Secretary spoke with Mr. Webb and Rusk about this, immediately following the conversation.\)
S:B.Evans