Senator SYMINGTON. I congratulate you. I think it is absolutely magnificent, the whole thing, the way you have done it, the way you and your wife handled yourselves, it is just great. If we have a few more things like that and a few more flights like [John] Glenn's, then we are going to begin to see some real hope. Frankly, I was getting nervous about some of this. LECTURES ABROAD I would like to ask one question. I don't think it is a question of whether more people should go-you can't spend your time traveling and other people can't—I just think it is a question of how they should go and when they should go. With that premise, have you got plans; have you made suggestions? I know Senator Fulbright did it-it could not be better-and the senior members of this committee and other people in Government. I just wonder, are you formulating an idea as to how this can be done? Mr. KENNEDY. Yes, and I have had some talks with the people from USIA and also with Secretary Rusk and with the President about setting up on an organized basis, of asking Members of Congress and maybe some of the governors Governor [Terry] Sanford of North Carolina, for example, or Governor [Nelson] Rockefellermaybe somebody like Stewart Udall or Orville Freeman, Members of the Senate, House of Representatives, to go into some of these countries and spend a couple of weeks to give lectures. They are working on a program. INCONSISTENT REACTION Senator SYMINGTON. As I understand it, the thing that surprised you the most, listening this morning, was not whether they were right in their opinions or whether they were wrong or what the difference was, but was the extent of their ignorance about our country; is that correct? Mr. KENNEDY. Yes, fantastic. Senator SYMINGTON. Isn't that the primary reaction? Mr. KENNEDY. Fantastic. But with all of that it seems almost inconsistent, the fact there is such a warm feeling toward the United States. For instance, Indonesia: Despite the fact, I believe, it has the biggest Communist Party outside the Soviet bloc, when Sukarno made his trip around Indonesia, he took all the ambassadors with him and the ambassador that invariably got the biggest hand was the American Ambassador. The Russian Ambassador was fifth or sixth down the line. If we would go into some of these smaller towns and villages, the women are learning to speak English-in the universities they are learning to speak English, again rather an interesting thing. They have Marx books as a textbook to learn in Indonesia and they have, to counteract that, Walter Rostow's book [Stages of Economic Growth] which they believe and, as I understand it, is really the only book, unusual as it might seem, that has been written to answer Marx on the economic history of the world. And so they try to give these to counteract one another. But also, Senator, I think that a lot can be done with the American community. For instance, we have 20 professors from the University of Kentucky, Senator, in Indonesia. I think if they are given the go-ahead sign and encouraged to also speak up a little on some of these matters other than the particular subject they are in, make themselves available-they are a very impressive group, Senator. I met with them, and they are very impressive. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Aiken, do you have to leave? The CHAIRMAN. I wanted in a few minutes to have some nominations, if you are not in a particular hurry. Senator SYMINGTON. I just want to say one thing more. UNTAPPED POTENTIAL Mr. Chairman, Fowler Hamilton and I went to Guinea, and wherever we went the people cheered the Ambassador everywhere, as soon as they saw the flag on the car, a fellow named [John Howard] Morrow, whose brother was working in the White House in the Eisenhower administration. It wasn't just cheering; everywhere, everybody, all the women, all the men, were in the streets and coming out of offices as soon as they saw the flag, and this was a country that was considered to be the most Communist of any country in Africa. When I asked Sekou-Toure why it was, he said, "We like this man and we trust him. We think he is for Guinea.' And I think what the Attorney General has told us this morning very much emphasizes the vast untapped potential that we have around the world if more people will do what he did. Thank you. The CHAIRMAN. Well, Mr. Attorney General, I would certainly agree with the importance of this trip and your suggestion about the people going, especially the people who can, and are capable of explaining what these controversies are about. RECRUITING PERSONNEL TO GO ABROAD I recently have been trying to get the Ford Foundation to, in a sense, marry our foreign aid program from the point of view of getting personnel, recruiting them. Do you think that would be at all a feasible thing to fit in with what you are speaking of here? Mr. KENNEDY. I do. We met some of their people in some of these areas, and of course they are impressive, but I think anything like that The CHAIRMAN. What was their reaction? They are people doing what? Mr. KENNEDY. In Indonesia they were working with some of the universities on particular projects. They were making studies in some of these areas that we want into. The CHAIRMAN. It seems to me this is a function that they are ideally suited to perform. Mr. KENNEDY. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. With your influence with especially Ford, which now has so much money they might be induced to take on more of this burden that really only people like they can do very well. Mr. KENNEDY. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. You mentioned a moment ago about recruiting, in addition to members of the Government, private people, writers and other people of this kind. Mr. KENNEDY. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. It seems to me this is a thing that the Ford Foundation can do extremely well and not to be hampered by the inhibitions that afflict the Government in various ways, as you well know. Mr. KENNEDY. Yes, and I think it would be more impressive if it could be done in that way. The CHAIRMAN. I hope you will find occasion to speak to him about it. I proposed this. We had in mind mostly Latin America, but it would apply to this area just as much. Mr. KENNEDY. Yes, I will do that. FOREIGN AID The CHAIRMAN. We had the foreign aid bill and, as now, it has always been a very controversial bill, and I hate to let you go without expressing your views about this bill and its importance. Mr. KENNEDY. I will say really Indonesia, where the Russians are, I guess, outspending us maybe 8 or 10 to 1, what we are doing there, the highway that is being erected outside Jakarta, is something that is the subject of conversation and discussion, something that is on people's minds, and something that is well known. I think it is that kind of effort which is invaluable. In Thailand, they are doing much better economically, and they acknowledge quite openly that it is because of the interest and the efforts which have been made in this field by the United States. I am very strongly in favor of it. THE CONNALLY AMENDMENT Senator MORSE. Mr. Chairman, while the Attorney General is here, would you object to our taking a minute with him, if he cares to or would he be willing to express himself on the record as to his position on the Connally amendment? Sooner or later, it is going to be before this committee again in the session; I understand an attempt will be made to revive it. The CHAIRMAN. If he cares to. If he was not prepared to, he would not comment on it unless he was prepared, but if he cares to Mr. KENNEDY. I am in favor, Senator, of the repeal of the Connally amendment. I was asked about this when I was in The Hague, and said so at that time. I am not prepared to discuss it in any great detail. Senator MORSE. I knew it was your position and I thought we ought to have it as a matter of record so if the question is raised, where does the Attorney General stand on the question, why we can refer to it. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. We appreciate your coming. It has been very useful. Mr. KENNEDY. Thank you. [The committee then recessed briefly at 11:45 a.m., to reconvene in executive session at 12:05 p.m.] On motion by Senator Morse, seconded by Senator Symington, the committee unanimously approved for report the nominations of W. Walton Butterworth, Walter C. Dowling, and Frances E. Willis, to be Career Ambassadors. The nomination of W. Michael Blumenthal, to be United States Representative on the Commission on International Commodity Trade of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, was approved for report without objection. On motion by Senator Morse, seconded by Senator Symington, the committee also approved for report the nominations of Roger M. Blough, the Rev. Edward A. Conway, John Cowles, Trevor Gardner, George B. Kistiakowsky, George Meany, James A. Perkins, Herman Phleger, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Thomas D. White, and Herbert Frank York to be members of the General Advisory Committee of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. For record of the proceedings, see the official transcript. [The committee adjourned at 12:05 p.m.] MINUTES MONDAY, MARCH 19, 1962 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, The committee met in executive session at 10:40 a.m., in room 4221, NSOB. Present: Chairman Fulbright, and Senators Sparkman, Humphrey, Church, Symington, Hickenlooper, Aiken, Carlson, and Capehart. Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr., Director of the Peace Corps, testified again on S. 2935, To amend the Peace Corps Act. For record of the proceedings, see the official transcript. [The committee adjourned at 12:25 p.m.] (332) |