Memorandum of Telephone Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Secretary of Agriculture Charles Brannan

SECALE 489 Office of THE SECRETARY cont March 27, 1952 09 MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION Participants: Secretary Brannan Secretary Acheson Secretary Brannan telephoned Mr. Acheson and said he wanted to discuss the question of appointing a new Head of the ICA Program. He said that Mr. Eric Johnston had called him on Tuesday and asked him if he would be agreeable to the appointment of Dr. Hannah of Michigan for a period of a year. Secretary Brannan said he had told Mr. Johnston that he had two points which he would like to make before expressing his own opinion that Dr. Hannah was a very fine man. The first point was that he had not understood that Stanley Andrews was completely out of the picture, to which Johnston had replied that he understood that Andrews wanted to leave his temporary TCA work and return to the Department of Agriculture. The second point was that Secretary Branan thought that Gustavson should be given some consideration, and Mr. Johnston had raised the point about the investigative report. Secretary Brannan said that he then had to leave to go to the Hill to testify and that his testimony had just concluded and he now wanted to talk with Mr. Acheson about where the matter stood. Secretary Brannan said he had talked to Mr. Andrews who said that he had not indicated to anyone that he would be unavailable for the job. Secretary Brannan said that he was quite certain that Mr. Andrews would be very happy to have the appointment. Secretary Brannan said that his great worry about Dr. Hannah is his political affiliation which is well-known and active. In appointing Dr. Hannah we would be putting outside of the sphere of the President's political identification the manage- - ment of what, in Mr. Brannan's opinion, is one of the really significant programs for the hope of all people of the rest of the world. He did not like separating this program so far from the man who had announced the concept of Point IV. DECLASSIFIED En O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or ( Dept. of State lettes, Aup 9,1973 5-12-26 Mr. Acheson By NLT- He ? NARS Date 7.16.76