Letter from Henry Byroade to Secretary of State Dean Acheson, with Attached Correspondence

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see 569 sew and AND RECORDE 314 CONFIDENTIAL SERVICE* nighten October 24, 1951 regards Mr. Secretary : McCloy's letter doesn't seem to advance the situation very much and I suppose the next step is to talk to him in Paris about his impressions of the second man on the list. I know that McCloy plans to see you briefly in Paris as soon as convenient to you after your arrival there. I am frankly n ot too disappointed that the first man has temporarily turned us down, although I must admit that this is not based upon my personal knowledge of his ability. I have particularly in mind a couple of extraordinary requirements for this post during the next couple of years. In the first place, I anticipate considerable and continuing trouble with the armed forces due to their changing status in Germany. Secondly, we need the type of individual who can shake down the present organization into a workable Embassy. You will be able to judge whether your first candidate is equipped for these two aspects of the job much better than I. I am inclined to think that McCloy places too much emphasis on the Catholic question. I agree that it is a factor at the present time but would not consider it to be an overriding deterrent if an individual possesses the other necessary qualifications. From what I know of the second man on your list, I believe he would do an excellent job. If this one fails, I think I would be inclined to turn to Bob Murphy and settle the issue unless McCloy has further evidence to produce on the Catholic question. This would, in that case, of course rule out Bob. In his next to the last paragraph McCloy questions whether we should not move the London group discussing financial support to Paris. As things stand now, I am convinced this would be a mistake. As you know, there are certain questions involving the financial support of German forces and our own forces in Germany which must be settled quickly regardless of any long-range solution which may develop in EDF. We have felt that having both discussions DECLASSIFIED CONFIDENTIAL Ec O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and S(D) or (E) Dept al State letter, A 5-62-26 HC BAR3 Date 6.3076