Memorandum from Philleo Nash to David Niles, with Attached Draft

NILES May 19, 1947. MEMORANDUM FOR THE HONORABLE DAVID K. NILES: SERVICE GOVER As you requested, I had a talk with Bob Carr, getting the back- ground of Charles Wilson's and Luckman's request to see the President. You can expect that Luckman will ask the President to okay a proposal to develop an educational-oampaign on civil rights now, so that advertising, radio spot announcements, etc., will be in readiness at the time the Committee's report is submitted to the President. Luckman's argument in the full Committee has been that it takes four months to prepare auch a campaign, and if the preparation is not made until after the report is submitted, the campaign will have a slow start, not possibly before February 1, 1948. Luckman wants to start October 1, 1947. Inside the Committee, Luckman has provoked a good deal of dissension, by his proposal. Wilson feels that Luckman is rushing things, and there is a fear in the Committee that to prepare the campaign now will be to write the Committee's report in advance. The other question is a matter of sponsorship. Should the President's Committee, as such, engage in an educational campaign using the mass media, or should it merely recommend.such a campaign to be conducted under other auspices, such as the Advertising Council? The President will be asked what his wishes are. Luckman's approach is a little disruptive to the Committee. Some Committee members feel that he is pushing himself too hard, and the staff fears that the Committee may get its eye off the ball, which is the writing of the report for the President. The other hazard, of course, is the matter of sponsorship. No one knows what's going to be in the report yet. At this point, no one knows exactly what content Luckman would want to put in such a campaign. The President can't buy a "pig in a poke", and I don't imagine he is very likely to. July