LBJ NEEDS STRONG STATE DEPARTMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000300170001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: February 5, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

5pniVzgd - Approved For Release : CIA--U01 49R000300170001-3
FOIAb3b
U. 164,523
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CPYRGHT
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PRESIDENT'S INTERESTS DOMESTIC
J Needs Strong State
By MAI;~yG.QODEELLOW
President Lyndon Johnson is far more
interested in domestic affairs'than in
foreign.
The bills for medicare, education,
the war against poverty and so forth,
are geared for Amerlea's "Great So-
ciety" - in America.
CPYRGHT
1 1W lvt
.
e angle r
merit came back into its own. This was
evidenced by the Marshall Plan, which
sealed our economic involvement in Fu
rope.
IF STRONG presidents tend to
choose weak secretaries of state, the',
WASHINGTON - Even before the
grandstands of, the inaugural parade
had been dismantled, Washington was
buzzing with the rumor that Dean? Rusk
would soon leave as secretary of state
and that his place would be taken by
Sen. William Fulbright of Arkansas.
Bill Fulbright has a lot going for
him. The author of the Fulbright.
Scholarship Act is a longtime expert
on foreign affairs.. He has a reputation
for hard-headed . intellectual ability,
plenty of grit and fearless honesty.
Never afraid of thinking unthinkable
thoughts himself; Fulbright last f a 1
urged Americans to do just that, and in
the doing, to face up to the world as
it is instead of as' they wished it were.
Now 59, and a Rhodes Scholar like
Dean Rusk, Fulbright has another big
qualification for the job - his 21-yea
service in the Senate. For some time
he has been a member of both the
Joint Economic and Finance commit-
tees, and chairman of the Committee
on Foreign Relations.
WHETHER the choice is Fulbrigh
or not, the situation demands a strong
competent and sure-footed secretary o
state. For it has', long been known
from his speeches, the emphasis; 'h
puts in his legislative program - that
Throughout the Uni;ed States' 176- - reverse is also true. The foremost re-
year history, those pr~rsidcnts w i t h cent example of this is Dwight D..Ei-
strong interest ii; forei?'n affairs have senhower, 'who practically abdicated
generally chosen secrc:cries of slate foreign relations to John Foster Dulles.
who were easy to domin'ite. ,and to a lesser extent to the Central
Intelligence Agency.
Franklin D. Ilaoseveit >ris- prime
example. Like l eddy toosevelt, who When? the 'U-2 affair look plc :c. in
rode roof hshod i ve.r John flay, Llihu 1960, E;senhower obviously didn't know,
Root and Itoacrt &.icon, .FOR domii at? whether a U-2 had been over Russia or
ed Cordell Bull :old Edward R. Stet-`?? not. Dulles dominated foreign affairs;
tinius Jr. lie often dealt with Under- completely, flying around the world as
secretary Sumner Welies without in-an airborne diplomat and making far- I
forming Hull, and then undercut both 41 reaching commitments. When D u 1 l e s
them by his use of harry Ho;ikins, died in. 1959, his replacement, Chris.
Averell Harriman, Gen. Bedell Smith
and James Byrnes.
tian Herter, could only attempt to pick
up the pieces of what had been a one-.
man show.
TODAY, Preesident Johnson t a l k s
about "teamwork" in government. But
does he mean it? Immersed as he is in
The Great Society, will he find the
have been here 17 whole days? Why,' time or temperament to devote to for.,
in 17 days you can decide anything!" ' eign problems?
Subsequently Truman began to grasp These problems loom so large that
'.how complex foreign. affairs can he, they will require consecutive direction,
and with the appointment, early in 1947 either by a secretary of 'state who is
of 'a man he felt he could trust -- fully in charge, or by a President who
George Marshall - the State Depart. can spare the time.
other, which only made matters worse.
At one ',point during the conference,
Truman became so irritated that he
turned impatiently to Byrnes and whis-
pered: ."Jimmy, do you realize that we
AS A RESUL'1' of Roosevelt';; off- When John F. Kennedy came to of-
the-cuff domination of America's for. fice, not only did he have to face the
eign policy, President Truiiian inherit- problems of Cuba and Vietnam, but the
ed the chaotic aftermath of World War deterioration of our relations with :,'.emu-
-1I with few guidelines and little expcri? rope - namely Charles de Gaulle. It,!,
ence in foreign affairs. was a new era in.world politics, an(t a
Ile had little patience with the State new set of issues were imminent.
Department. At the Potsdam Confer- ' . This time it was the young Presi-
ence in August, 1946, lacking confidence dent who was fascinated by foreign ;re-
in his first (out of three) secretary of lations. Before his tragic death he h(i ``.
estate, James Byrnes of South Carolina, begun to recreate America's political' Truman found himself up against such image abroad. Here again, there was
astute diplomatic traders as Stalin and little teamwork with the State Depart.
Churchill. ment, for Kennedy had his own per..
Byrnes and Truman did not like each sonal clique of advisers.
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000300170001-3