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MEMORANDUM OF PERSONAL CONSULTATION WITH THE PRESIDENT SEPTEMBER 25, 1947 The President returned to Washington last Friday after an extended trip to the Pan American Conference at Rio. Since that time he has had various conferences with Cabinet officers relative to the agricultural outlook and food price situation and to the Foreign Aid Program. He has not consulted the Council in any way in this connection although the newspapers have reported that he is to make an important statement with reference to the situation within the next few days. At our conference this morning, I told the President that we were preparing a statement of our appraisal of the situation at the end of the third quarter which should be ready to submit to him on September 30 or October 1. He expressed no curiosity as to its scope or content, nor did he raise any substantive question with me. When I asked him whether we should expect that this third quarter memorandum would be presented to the Cabinet, he said, yes, he thought we had better continue this practice, and this arrangement is being set up for the Cabinet meeting on Friday, Odtober 3. I asked the President whether the statement which it was reported he is to make "within a few days" would come out before the time that we presented our report to him. He said he didn* t know; this would depend on how soon Steelman got it fixed up. He seemed to be under the impression that Steelman had been in touch with me with reference to the statement, and when I said that this was not the case, he suggested that I get in touch with him with reference to it. / a i L-t / C rr C ~ ^ J - 2 A t t h i s co n fe re n ce , I showed the P r e s id e n t the dummy and j a c k e t d e s ig n o f th e book in which R eynal and H itch co ck propose to r e p r in t the economic r e p o r ts o f th e P r e s id e n t f o r commercial s a le in th e fu tu r e , s t r e s s i n g the im portance o f t h i s a s a means o f g e t t i n g th e m a te r ia l b e fo re a much la r g e r r e a d in g a u d ien ce. I t was n o t c l e a r w hether he had understood about t h i s u n d e rta k in g , a lth o u gh we had gone in to th e m atte r in g r e a t d e t a i l w ith Mr. R oss. h im s e lf a s e n t i r e l y a g r e e a b le to i t s t h a t he a tta ch e d any im portance to i t The P r e s id e n t exp ressed b e in g done bu t gave no in d ic a t io n or f e l t any g r a t i f i c a t i o n a t t h i s means o f r e a ch in g a much l a r g e r segment o f p u b lic o p in io n . In view o f the f a c t t h a t th e q u estio n had r e c e n t ly been r a is e d w ith th e P r o to c o l D iv is io n o f th e S t a t e Department a s to where my name should appear in any p r in te d l i s t s t h i s p o in t w ith the P r e s id e n t. o f government o f f i c i a l s , . I r a is e d It. had been th e su p p o s itio n o f P r o to c o l t h a t we would rank as th e newest o f th e independent a g e n c ie s and th u s would appear down below members o f C on gress, under s e c r e t a r i e s , a s s i s t a n t s e c r e t a r i e s , and independent a g e n c ie s e s t a b lis h e d p r io r to F ebruary 20, 194-6. I r e fe r r e d the P r e s id e n t to th e committee r e p o r ts on the A c t and C o n g r e ssio n a l d e b a te in which i t had been s ta te d in s e v e r a l co n n ectio n s t h a t t h i s agency was unique in c h a r a c te r , s e t up in th e o f f i c e o f the P r e s id e n t , and to b e r a te d "on the C a b in e t' le v e l.” The P r e s id e n t s a id he was n o t a t a l l i n t e r e s t e d in p r o to c o l but would lo o k in to th e m a tte r . He v o lu n te e re d t h a t he had regarded us as j u s t l i k e "th e r e s t o f th e White House a i d e s ." I p o in ted ou t t h a t i f we were t o perform th e in te g r a tin g ; jSt and c o o r d in a tin g fu n c tio n provided in the A c t in v o lv in g sej^ m S and sometimes c o n f l i c t i n g departm ental p o l i c i e s , it seemed to me e s s e n t i a l - 3 - t h a t th e C o u n cil be on the rank o f th e C a b in et o f f i c e r s w ith whom i t must d e a l. There was no in d ic a t io n t h a t th e P r e s id e n t was im pressed by t h i s p o in t, in f a c t he r a th e r c u r t l y t o ld me to le a v e i t w ith him, t h a t he would lo o k in to i t and t h a t he thought I had f e l t s a t i s f i e d ^ w ith what he had done w ith r e fe r e n c e t o th e C o u n c il in the p a s t. As a m a tte r o f reco rd as o f t h i s d a te , I may s t a t e t h a t I and o th e r members o f th e C o u n cil have f e l t a c o n s id e r a b le degree o f d isappo in tm en t and f r u s t r a t io n a s to the use t h a t th e P r e s id e n t has made o f th e C o u n cil up to the p r e s e n t tim e. I f e e l t h a t h is statem en t f o r th e f i r s t tim e c l a r i f i e s th e r e la t io n s h ip when he sa ys t h a t he has regard ed us as in th e same r e la t i o n s "a s the r e s t o f th e White House a id e s .” A f t e r the la p s e o f a l i t t l e more than a y e a r , it can be s a id t h a t th e re has been no s in g le case when he has c a l l e d upon us in any s p e c ific s i t u a t i o n f o r cou nsel in h i s stu dy o f any m a tte r o f n a tio n a l economic p o l i c y . W hile he has a c c e p te d the m a te r ia l which we have p re se n te d him f o r use in the economic r e p o r ts and passed i t on w ith o u t m a te r ia l change and w ith o n ly minor o m issio n s, th e r e i s no c l e a r evid en ce t h a t a t any ju n c tu r e we have had tany t a n g ib le in flu e n c e on the form ation o f p o l i c y o r the ad o p tio n o f any course o f a c tio n or fe a tu r e o f a program, A n o ta b le case o f om ission was when th e P r e s id e n t s e n t h i s r a th e r com prehensive c o n s e r v a tio n r e p o r t t o th e Congress l a s t June. I t was r a th e r h a s t i l y drawn to g e th e r by Mr. Steelm an in c o n s u lta tio n w ith array e n g in e e r s , re cla m a tio n o f f i c e r s , and o th e r s , b u t w ith o u t any p a r t ic i p a t io n b y*o r c o n s u lta tio n w ith any member o f th e C o u n c il's s t a f f .
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