July 12, 1950
MEMORANDUM FOR S/S
Senator Elbert Thomas of Utah telephoned Secretary Acheson yesterday afternoon to invite him to speak at the Utah Democratic State Convention on July 29. The Secretary mentioned that he had canceled other speaking engagements except for the one in Chicago. The Senator then suggested that possibly Mr. Jessup could go out if the Secretary were not available.
The Secretary asked the Senator whether he thought it wise for the Department to take part in political conventions at a time like this. The Senator replied that he thought it would be all right in view of the high plane on which this convention would be pitched. The Secretary said that he would talk the matter over in the Department and call the Senator back, either yesterday afternoon or this morning.
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The Secretary then asked Mr. McFall and Mr. Jessup to come to his office and, after conversation with them, called Mr. Connelly at the White House and said that we felt it unwise for the Department to participate. Mr. Connelly said he agreed but would ask the President.
Mr. Connelly called back this morning and said that the President agreed with the Department's view that we should not participate.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Secretary called Senator Thomas this afternoon and told him that he had discussed the Senator's request with the advisers here, and it was their belief that at this time it would not be a good thing to plan on attending the convention. The Secretary said there is a great deal of business to get through on a unified basis in the next few months. However, it was suggested that if the Senator could get some Cabinet officer who is not directly connected with Korea, we would be glad to work with him on getting up a foreign policy speech. The Senator thought that probably there was no other Cabinet member who could be called on.
Another suggestion made by the Secretary was that, after the North Atlantic Conference - which is scheduled to take place the latter part of August - and the meeting of the three Foreign Ministers, and the opening of the Assembly, either Mr. Jessup or the Secretary might go out to Utah under some auspices and accompanied by the Senator. The Senator thought this suggestion was an excellent one, and he thanked the Secretary for taking the time to go over the request.
The Senator said he would leave it - if he could get his people gathered around him, the Secretary would be called upon. The Secretary said he would do his very best to respond effectively.
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