DEPARTMENT OF STATE THE SECRETARY
April 6, 1950
The Secretary telephoned John Foster Dulles this morning to tell him that he had talked with the President last night and reported his conversations with Mr. Dulles. Mr. Acheson said the President was extremely pleased with the whole thing, and that he told the President we planned to put out a release announcing Mr. Dulles' appointment at eleven o'clock this morning unless we had word from Mr. Dulles to the contrary. The Secretary said that in view of leaks and reports in the press this morning, he would like to get the release out now.
Mr. Dulles asked the Secretary if Dean Rusk had passed on to him his message. The Secretary said Mr. Rusk had told him that Mr. Dulles had spoken with Governor Dewey and that Mr. Dulles had suggested we might put more in the release. He \(pencil note "Mr. Dulles"\) indicated what he had in mind was something that would correspond to Ambassador at large, something that would give a little clearer picture of his status.
The Secretary said he hesitated to reopen the matter since he had cleared the whole thing up in talks with the President. The Secretary said that the whole thing was quite complicated and that we didn't want to raise any complication with John Cooper, who had been appointed recently as Consultant. The question would be raised if Mr. Dulles' appointment were different from that of Cooper. The Secretary said that after Mr. Cooper left, we could clear this matter up.
Mr. Dulles said that he had been in touch with Senator Vandenberg and Senator Smith, who along with Governor Dewey felt that the Republican Party was selling out awfully cheap. Mr. Dulles said he personally was not concerned about rank but that the three gentlemen he mentioned were all concerned about what newspaper comment it would provoke.
Mr. Dulles though perhaps if the word "top" were inserted somewhere, that would take care of it. The Secretary mentioned again that he hesitated to reopen the matter again with the President and that if he changed the release now, it would cause the President a legitimate worry.
Mr. Dulles then asked what he should say to the press when asked what his status was. The Secretary suggested he might say that he was one of the top advisers along with Dr. Jessup and John Cooper. Mr. Dulles appeared to be satisfied and said that such a statement would make it clear that nobody 'was above me'. The Secretary said there was no question of rank - that as top advisers they were all in this thing together, working, planning and negotiating together.
Mr. Dulles suggested that McDermott, when he was asked about the question of rank, might reply along the lines of the above.
The Secretary said that everyone was very pleased with the appointment. Mr. Dulles also indicated his pleasure.
Mr. Dulles said he was expecting to see Mr. Butterworth tomorrow in New York.
Mr. Dulles asked if the Secretary thought he should send a telegram to the President. The Secretary said that since the President has said he was looking forward to seeing him, he believed that would take care of the matter.
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