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HARRY TRUMAN NARA
Washington Report
In the Senate the hearings have been successful. On the whole the Senators ask
pretty sensible questions and seem to have learned a great deal. They will push
along now and may wind things up in another week. It is Mr. Stein's opinion
that they will come out with a pretty good bill.
In the House the situation is less orderly. It is only meeting three days a week.
They have just about completed the Government witnesses. As far as our own
participation is concerned everything seems to have gone very well. A good many
of our National Council members have testified either in their private capacities
or as representatives of their organizations. Mr. Acheson testified yesterday.
Mr. Stein says it is perfectly clear that the most dangerous fight is on the
amount; there will be many many reasons suggested why it should not be $6.8 billion.
He thinks it would be wiser to wait a few days and then get a letter out to the
two committee chairmen, Dr. Eastson and Sen. Vandenberg, going on record and
citing reasons for the full amount and knocking on the head some of the distortions.
Mr. Stein is:drawing up a draft of such a letter. which will be ready in the next
few days and if it is satisfactory to the Committee he feels it should be issued
Tuesday or Wednesday.
Mr. Stein then spoke briefly about the devaluation of the franc and its effect.
It does not seem to have had much effect on Congress. On the whole they seem
pleased about it.
Executive Director's Report
Mr. Ferguson reported that he had spent the morning in a meeting with the
Advertising Council people, Mr. Replier, Mr. Ludlum and Evans Clark. At the last
meeting of the Committee, Mr. Hiss mentioned that Mr. Clark had talked to him
favorably about the possibility of putting on an advertising campaign at compara-
tively small cost. Mr. Charles Symington wrote another letter last week in which
he again urged us to undertake an advertising campaign which would involve about
$100,000 and thought that we might have a dinner and raise the money. Mr. Ferguson
met with the above gentlemen and went over the matter point by point. The net
result was quite different from both the ideas of Mr. Symington and Mr. Clark. In
the first place, both Mr. Ludlum and Mr. Replier are disturbed by the limitations
on the part of the Advertising Council; they are an organization, the contributions
to which are tax free and therefore they cannot support legislation. They made
it quite clear that anything they do would have to be done in a factual way. We
would not only have to present the facts on our side but also on the other side.
Quite apart from this problem is the problem of time. The advertising campaigns
that they undertake are made up long in advance. They all agreed that there is no
possibility of getting anything out before late in March at the very earliest and
even to hit that schedule would require considerable effort. The final conclusion
arrived at was that it would be foolish to bother further with them. They feel
we could do better on our own and in this regard offered two suggestions.
They suggested that we might get professional people to prepare some ads for us
which we could compile into a proof book and send to newspapers with a view to
selling them to advertisers; also we could send them to our own committee members
and to our field men so that they could attempt to persuade local people to use
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"ocrText": "-3-\nHARRY TRUMAN NARA\nWashington Report\nIn the Senate the hearings have been successful. On the whole the Senators ask\npretty sensible questions and seem to have learned a great deal. They will push\nalong now and may wind things up in another week. It is Mr. Stein's opinion\nthat they will come out with a pretty good bill.\nIn the House the situation is less orderly. It is only meeting three days a week.\nThey have just about completed the Government witnesses. As far as our own\nparticipation is concerned everything seems to have gone very well. A good many\nof our National Council members have testified either in their private capacities\nor as representatives of their organizations. Mr. Acheson testified yesterday.\nMr. Stein says it is perfectly clear that the most dangerous fight is on the\namount; there will be many many reasons suggested why it should not be $6.8 billion.\nHe thinks it would be wiser to wait a few days and then get a letter out to the\ntwo committee chairmen, Dr. Eastson and Sen. Vandenberg, going on record and\nciting reasons for the full amount and knocking on the head some of the distortions.\nMr. Stein is:drawing up a draft of such a letter. which will be ready in the next\nfew days and if it is satisfactory to the Committee he feels it should be issued\nTuesday or Wednesday.\nMr. Stein then spoke briefly about the devaluation of the franc and its effect.\nIt does not seem to have had much effect on Congress. On the whole they seem\npleased about it.\nExecutive Director's Report\nMr. Ferguson reported that he had spent the morning in a meeting with the\nAdvertising Council people, Mr. Replier, Mr. Ludlum and Evans Clark. At the last\nmeeting of the Committee, Mr. Hiss mentioned that Mr. Clark had talked to him\nfavorably about the possibility of putting on an advertising campaign at compara-\ntively small cost. Mr. Charles Symington wrote another letter last week in which\nhe again urged us to undertake an advertising campaign which would involve about\n$100,000 and thought that we might have a dinner and raise the money. Mr. Ferguson\nmet with the above gentlemen and went over the matter point by point. The net\nresult was quite different from both the ideas of Mr. Symington and Mr. Clark. In\nthe first place, both Mr. Ludlum and Mr. Replier are disturbed by the limitations\non the part of the Advertising Council; they are an organization, the contributions\nto which are tax free and therefore they cannot support legislation. They made\nit quite clear that anything they do would have to be done in a factual way. We\nwould not only have to present the facts on our side but also on the other side.\nQuite apart from this problem is the problem of time. The advertising campaigns\nthat they undertake are made up long in advance. They all agreed that there is no\npossibility of getting anything out before late in March at the very earliest and\neven to hit that schedule would require considerable effort. The final conclusion\narrived at was that it would be foolish to bother further with them. They feel\nwe could do better on our own and in this regard offered two suggestions.\nThey suggested that we might get professional people to prepare some ads for us\nwhich we could compile into a proof book and send to newspapers with a view to\nselling them to advertisers; also we could send them to our own committee members\nand to our field men so that they could attempt to persuade local people to use"
}