Letter from Ambassador Lewis Douglas to Secretary of State Dean Acheson

556 PERSONAL - EYES ONLY FOR THE SECRETARY THE FOREIGN SERVICE 141 OF VELE UNIFEO STATES OF AMERICA AMERICAN EMBASSY LONDON May 23, 1950. My dear Dean: You will doubtless remember our conversation the night before you started on your homeward journey in regard to operation Bisbee. I have naturally thought a great deal about the matter. It isn't necessary, I am sure, to repeat what I said before -- that I do not want this particular responsibility, nor indeed any other responsibility. I am here only because of you, the President and the state of world affairs, but principally because of you and the President. With this as an unnecessary and redundant preamble, I can say that I have some very real deficiencies. Moreover, I do not know how long my health would stand up under the stress of doing both jobs; that is to say, the one I now have and the new one. If, however, you thought that my doing it would be the best solution of the question, there are certain general conditions under which I would be prepared to do it for a reasonable period. To outline these general conditions in writing would require a memorandum which would be longer than you would want to read and that I would want to write. One of them is that in undertaking it, I do so in partnership, as it were, with a powerful person to act as backstop in Washington and to move between London and Washington at irregular intervals. Regard- less of who undertakes to do the job, I think this sort of an arrangement is necessary in order, in the first place, to get the Council of Deputies off the ground and into the air; and in the second place, to assure that the positions taken by the Chairman of the Council with the Deputies had the full support of Washington. I would not be concerned whether the person who will act as backstop in Washington was Chairman and I was Vice Chairman to keep the matter in the air while he was in Washington. This is a matter of title and not of substance. If, however, someone other than the Ambassador to London becomes the Chairman, than I think the terms of reference of The Honorable DECLASSIFIED The Secretary of State, STATE 2TA. 6-12-79 Washington 25, D. C. E.O. 10265 By NCT.HC NARS, Date 9-12-79