RELAXED AMERICANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP64B00346R000300060002-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 17, 2003
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 26, 1962
• Content Type: OPEN

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._ i r r.nrnnT CT:'ATAI-VP 4607
.L / v ,v and We did not take with us tuxedos
i
ht +e na+haw delegations
ns,llandsepe- women, offunction ngtethroughout the
g
br
we
- mons of
------
--
lied y11
in South America where there was no agency servI119
electricity, including a trip more than one kind or another abroad. Then, in less, George Dixon, famed Washington have
l seem very nati on ilitaryWhermis-- he recen lyw ote:thor, is so right when
columnist 800 miles up the Amazon River into the additio
n a
ny employee has
interior of the continent. tsions
ywhere
over-
In 1959 I was honored appointment he American s in almost h CI to stagger waorking hoursssonoourw
by the then Vice e President, Mr. Nixon, , seas, every nation. In fact, I know of no won't paralyze traffic on the Potomac bridges.
nies
to speak at the dedication ceremo
nation where we do not have one. The total number of CI employees
of some of our American military ceme- In various cities of South America and
teries in France, north Africa, and Italy, the Far East I experienced wonderment has not been disclosed. Of course we
where I served in World War II. at the huge number of relaxed Ameri- know that they are working in practi-
While I was there I made many ob- tally every country of the world, as they
servations. More recently, I was aP- cans on the Federal payroll. Many should be, rendering an important serv
pointed to the Inter-Parliamentary them, particularly in our foreign aid d ice. it
Commonwealth Conference in London, program, which in the Eisenhower ad- However, may I cite a personal obser-
ministration was termed ICA-Interna- vation in one of our embassies in a Cen-
ro serfo as an obsercon erence While in ELon- n- tional Cooperation Administration-and tral American country, which I visited
rope, opent time he on the Continent in before that the Mutual Security Agency, late in the Eisenhower administration.
van, I spent tion the WhereverContinent ent i appear to be living "high on the hog." In November or December of 1959, an
various countries. o Their salaries and fringe benefits are economy program had been instituted,
observed a great many. re axed Amerl-excellent, and their social life seems to under which a 10-percent cut in employ-
- - 1111 _~c pa be very active. unment do in the various embassies had been
e pu lc round in manyistances The U.S. Information Agency has over ordered. The Ambassador apologized to
e a pr rs nne a States. In the aid program there are
- . told me of a particular incident with a
o erse pr r
n e Bence4--Ben -- over 6,000 officials and employees abroad feeling of shame. On orders from Wash-
o0ra Ions. and another 2,200 here at home. The ington a agent was assigned to his
the -lo-address address myself this morning State Department employs approxi embassy. ,Q. A re was an embassy which
The the American a relaxed Americans. mately 24,000 persons, over 16,000 of was short of automobiles, with only two
TAmercan traveling abroad will be them in our embassies and consulates old ones available for its use. It was also
amazed and of , perhaps angered at the abroad, short of personnel by reason of the re-
er , nsuy nts, and other It is a fact that there are many, many duction in force order and was compelled
tree consultants, and other toreen- found dedicated, hard working Americans to discharge two loyal employees, natives
in e e our country the are . fAs a serving overseas for our State Depart- of the country. It was a matter of great
result very corner of gate globe. ment and the various initialed agencies. regret to the Ambassador that he had
n, aand n the study It is difficult to keep track of all these to do this. He felt their discharge would
rer of my in investigations
oveh here in Washicongton, and world alphabetical agencies. However, if the make for a great deal of adverse feeling over, fully I the intend to s appropriations i andd the most author- trend continues, if we disregard the huge toward us in that country.
s and or fail to scrutinize them On the same day that he. was com-
izations that come before us. I am ter- very carefully, and if we do not try con- pelled by orders from Washington to let
tainly in favor of foreign assistance, and scientiously to reduce them, I feel we these employees go, he had to place the
I realize the necessity of assisting our shall soon be able to lump all of these CIA official on his staff as a clerk. This
allies and f. I am a great believer agencies into one big agency called official was pretty far down on the totem
in the alliriendsance for progress ss thatQ has IOU. pole, so to speak, the seventh or ninth
__ -
ie10N1 am-'. .-.. _
41110 vac YY
I believe that this program will be one the Government, that at least 10 per- Oyed as an obscure clerk in the Em-
a the great achievements t of a great cent of our employees abroad could be bassy, arrived with a 1960 Chrysler auto-
administration. We have too long neat and should be eliminated. Not only mobile. Not only that, but he brought
lected igh our Central and South American would this result in a saving of taxpay- his secretary along, and she had a late
neighbors. The good-neighbor policy of ers' money, but undoubtedly these agen- model Chevrolet. These two new auto-
Secretary of State Cordell Hull in the cies would function better. It would be mobiles made a sudden appearance at
Franklin D. Roosevelt administration a good idea if the top officials of these the Embassy, which up to this time had
was disregarded and virtually abandoned agencies would adopt a policy of gradual only two old cars. The Ambassador
in the crucial 8 years from 1953 to 1961. attrition regarding these relaxed Ameri- stated to me:
Commencing on January 21, 1961, the cos. When resignations and retire-
The officials of the Soviet Embassy are not
with unchanged. We are proceeding ments occur, such vacancies should go exactly stupid. That's a giveaway. It is so
with urgency in a policy of cooperation o unfilled unless it is determined in indi- obvious to anyone. I don't like it.
wifhl the that I tepubeics south of the border. vidual cases by a top-level departmental
I feel tt f 26 days as a result committee that this would impair or It is instances such as this that call
mericat. udy We mission i must ssion pr26oceed dwith in South greater prejudice governmental functions. I for greater congressional control over
Athe study
Ar
th would urge that this procedure car- this vital Agency.
f CIA employees
ff e
b
er o
urgency in lifting this program o
ground and getting it going without fur- ried on until the personnel of these e agent The total num
ther delay. ties had been reduced by 10 percent. has not been disclosed.-There are at
Time was when American officialdom Mr. President, a tremendously import present at least 3,000 employees at the
in foreign nations consisted solely of I ent but probably overstaffed govern- new CIA headquarters at McLean, Va.,
embassy and consular personnel. Now, ental agency is the teal Intel ' accofTiing to an official of the Soviet Em-
in addition, we have the U.S. Informa- with offices in Washington and bassy in Washington, who readily an-
tion Agency-USIA, the Agency for In- huge headquarters complex across the swered questions put to him. I am sure
ternational Development-AID, and so otomac River staffed with thousands of that you and I, Mr. President, would I
forth. The AID Agency should receive, fficials. The main function of many of not undertake to answer such questions,
in particular, the closest scrutiny not hese officials seems to be to send com- and we could not answer them. But the
munications to each other. question was put to the Soviet Embassy and, according to George
only from members of the Appropria-
side the thousands of CIA officials t
now
B
i
b
e
e
er
s
official scat d that the num
tins Committee, but of all Senators
he
because our taxpayers are sweating and and employees in Washington and vicin-
sweating to pay for the tremendous ex- sty, there are, of course, many more 3,000 and will be increased to 11,000. For
penditures involved in the AID program. thousands of intelligence agents, em- the sake of the taxpayers; let us hope
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 Approved For Release 2004/01/15 : CIA-RDP64B00346R00.0300060002-5
4608 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -SENATE L 0~
again. nV 11aVn,1c,A11V1V money appropriated by the Federal
The CIA is our most hush-hush ORR NATIONWIDE FOREST SUR- Government will be returned manifold
=y , as it should be. Everything to ased yield, treasury because
efor of the in-
ii is kept undercover. The nature Mr. STENNIS. Madam President, my , and therefore the in-
in-
of its operations requires this. Tax- remarks this morning will be a continua- creased money return from the national
payers are paying many millions of dal- tion of the remarks made heretofore forests due to the good management and
businesslike lars for the maintenance of this vital with reference to the supposed motion products ucts go into on of t forest
the
Agency and are entitled, at least, to re- which is intended to be made, should the that go into the markets of the
Nation assurance that the money for the resolution be taken up, to offer as an CIA is at all times being spent wisely. amendment to the then pending resolu_ In amount of money the program is
l t
ti
,ion, recommended a joint Senate-House meet. Before 1 discuss that, I wish
hat we have the proposed surveys
a
watchdog committee for the CIA. but pri- briefly to discuss some matters extrane- and, for the reasons assigned, the pres-
marily because officials of the CIA itself sus to the subject. ent sum allowed by law is not sufficient.
opposed it, this recommends ion was Madam President, on behalf of my.?
never implemented. We hope that the self and my colleagues from Mississippi RETIREMENT OF
thousands of employees of the Central [Mr. EASTLAND] and Vermont [Mr. RICHARD E.
Intelligence Agency are doing the work AmEN], I introduce. for appropriate ref.. MCA , CHIEF OF THE U_,-
bill
ro
id
-
~_.__......,~
- per- - ...
p
v
e more adequate
forming their important duties in a su- authorization for the nationwide forest Mr. STENNIS. Madam President, on
I perior manner in this grim period of in. survey which is conducted by the Forest March 17 Richard E. McArdle retired as
ternational anarchy. Service. Chief of the Forest Service in the U.S.
We want CIA employees to perform The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill Department of Agriculture. I believe
their import- duties in a satisfactory will be received and appropriately re- we should acknowledge as a matter of
manner, but we, the elected representa- ferred. record the outstanding contribution of
tives of the people, have no way of be- The bill (S. 3064) to amend section 9 Dr. McArdle's 39 years in the Forest
lug assured of this fact. To the contrary, of the act of May 22, 1928, as amended:, Service to the forest conservation pro-
over the past 2 years we have seen ample authorizing and directing a national sur- grams of this country. Indeed, if it were
evidence to cause us to doubt the effi- vey of forest resources, introduced by not for his tireless efforts over the years
ciency and good judgment of employees - Mr. STENNIS, was received, read twice by the forests of this Nation would not be
and officials of the, IA. I would rather its title, and referred to the Committee in the condition we find them today, as
not go into detail. ' I am sure all Sena- on Agriculture and Forestry, the mainstay of all our natural re-
tars know the things to which I am re- Mr. STENNIS. Madam President, the sources.
ferring, but to which at this time we bill would amend the McSweeney-Mc.. I have a great personal interest in Dr.
would prefer to give the charity of our Nary Forest Research Act of 1928 b
McArdle'
y
s career becausefl
o my cose as-
silence. But we have reason to doubt eliminating from section 9 of the act sociation with forestry over the years,
the past performance of officials and em- the limitation on annual appropriations Forests provide the raw material for a
ployees of the C~g_ and to question for resurveys. major industry in my State and I have
whether they showed good judgment. The forest survey provides an inven- been close to the development of this
} Congress should have at least some tory of our forest land and timber re- activity. Also, I have been closely as-
watchdog authority over the CI not sources. It provides the basic facts on satiated with many forestry matters
2 only because of the taxpayers money the extent and condition of forest land considered by the Congress. In 1953, I
involved, but because the competence of in all parts of our Nation such as the was appointed to the National Forest
this agency and of the people it em- rate at which new forest land is added Reservation Commission-a post is still
PLOYS is vital to our national security. due to tree planting of fields taken out hold today-and became acquainted
r. President, the problem of over- of agriculture, and the rate at which with Dr. McArdle, then In his second
employment In the Federal Government land is taken out of forest production year as head of the Forest Service. We
is a nagging one, one which continuously for reservoirs, highways, and agriculture. got to know each other well through the
plagues us. It should be dealt with Of even greater importance, the survey work of this Commission and my per-
drastically at all levels in every Govern- provides the facts on volume and quality sonal interest In the forest resources of
ment department. With our foreign as- of timber and the rate at which timber the Nation. I consider my association
sistance programs coming under ever- is growing or is being depleted by indus- with him one of the finest experiences
increasing criticism, we must be con- trial use. The forest survey serves a very I have had with a career employee in
stantly vigilant in dealing with problems practical and significant purpose. It the Government. He truly exemplifies
involving agencies which handle over- provides the essential information the best in career service in Government
sea commitments. I refer to the ever- needed by industry on the timber raw today.
increasing criticism which is coming material supply by region, state, and During Dr. McArdle's 10-year service
from our constituents. We should pay locality. Our forest products industries, as Chief he built a strong organization
heed to their criticisms, because it ap- as a group, are the fourth largest in the of forestry research scientists-strong
pears to me that many of them have Nation. Therefore, they contribute in their skills and strong in their dedi-
justification. The heads of these agen- heavily to the welfare of our country's cation to the difficult tasks they face,
cies should take immediate action to put economy. Industrial expansion and the A great deal of competence has been
their agencies above reproach in this future of our forest products industries brought together in the Forest Service's
regard. They should start by reducing in turn depends heavily upon this na- national forest and State and private
unnecessary personnel working abroad tionwide forest inventory being kept up forestry organizations, too. In fact, un-
who are living well at the expense of to date. der Dr. McArdle's stimulating American taxpayers. The trouble now is that it Is impossible the Service has become noted orits com-
Mr. YOUNG of Ohio. Mr. President, I for the Forest Service to keep this forest petence and its highly skilled people.
suggest the absence of a quorum. inventory sufficiently up to date to This achievement will last a long time
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tern- satisfy the need and the great demand and is certainly one of I)r. McArdle's
pore. The clerk will call the roll. for it. The present ceiling of $1,500,000 greatest contributions.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call annually was established by the Con- As head of his agency, Dr. MeArdle
the roll. gress in 1949. Since that time, costs of has established a national reputation for
Mr. STENNIS. Mr. President, I ask the forest survey have risen substan- leadership and foresight in the careful
unanimous consent that further pro- tially. Our proposed bill would remove planning of forestry programs under his
ceedings under the quorum call may be the ceiling and permit appropriation of responsibility. The development pro-
dispensed with. funds as needed to keep the forest sur- gram for the national forests sent the
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. vey up to date.
NEUBERGER in the chair). Without ob- The "Congress last year by the President; Is
jection, it is so ordered. program about which I have an example of a well planned and co-
spoken is one of the instances in which ordinated program to make these val-
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 One of the more improbable of these Ken-
nedy-O'Brien gestures involved Senator
HARRY FLOOD BYRD, whose flamboyant failure
to endorse Kennedy in 1960 clinched Virginia
for Nixon, and whose contempt for anything
but the most conservative policies is classic,
But one Sunday last May when the Senator,
a month before his 74th birthday, was giving
a big luncheon for friends at his country
estate, who should helicopter out of the sky
but the President himself. The old Virginia
gentleman was beside himself with pride and
JOY.
"Don't jump to conclusions," warned a
liberal Senator later, "HARRY BYRD Still Op-
poses us. We'll never get his vote. But he's.
not sitting up nights now figuring out ways
to be mean."
The conquest of CARL VINSON, Georgia's
prestigious chairman of the House Armed
Services Committee, was more complete.
Republicans mutter darkly that VINSON'S
surprisingly enthusiastic support of the
Kennedy 1961 program-often carrying other
southern votes with him-might have been
more surprising or less enthusiastic but for
the award of a billion-dollar Air Force con-
tract for jet transports to the Lockheed plant
at Marietta, Ga., a year ago.
O'Brien dismisses this with a snort as in-
nuendo. He says the true reason for VIN
soN's support is the simple fact that when
John F. Kennedy was serving in the House,
his office was near VINSON's and the two used
to walk to the Chamber together; the vener-
able southerner took a liking to the boyish
Yankee and it has flowered into a fruitful
political relationship between two vastly dif-
ferent but loyal Democrats-though the
fight over the B-70 bomber. has strained that
relationship.
O'Brien keeps a card index of congressional
whims, interests and voting records. With
elections in the offing, he is delicately but
unmistakably making clear to the Democratic
National Committee and the campaign com-
mittees of both Houses that the White House
has an interest-sometimes maybe even a
controlling interest-in the funds dispensed
to candidates for office. He has coordinated
the politically significant functions of the
executive branch to an astonishing degree.
He has trained Cabinet and agency liaison
officers to alert him on their projects, prob-
lems-and potential vacancies.
Not only intelligence but policy has been
coordinated. At first, departments and the
White House often reflected different versions
on the Hill. Now the word is "the President's
policy is our policy and the President's pri-
ority is our priority.
Behind him, O'Brien has the support, con-
fidence and authority of the President. "You
know what I went," his unspoken orders
run. "Come as close to it as you can." Aft-
er a decade. of working closely with him,
O'Brien does know what the President wants.
In the tense, ticklish process of trading votes
to unblock a bill, he knows how much the
President is prepared to change or dilute.
O'Brien's attitudes are conditioned by his
deep conviction that the President-only
6 weeks older than himself-has a capacity
for greatness which he wants to help him
realize. A Catholic who experienced the bit-
ter anti-Irish feelings of western Massa-
chusetts as he grew up, O'Brien knows the
meaning of the term "minority group." But
though his personal politics have evolved
as moderately liberal, he sees himself as a
kind of human bridge between the party's
Old Guard and the New Frontier.
His approach has already assisted him
across a moat of cold aloofness into a friend-
ly working contact with the intricate per-
sonality of the new Speaker. Their rela-
tionship helps counterbalance the longstand
ing coolness between MCCORMACK and the
President. This stems from past clashes
in Massachusetts politics. Last year there
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE
March 2.6
was added strain from the issue of funds While legislators can be found who don't
for parochial schools and their currently like O'Brien, their peeves are often varia-
.1 11
correct relationship is shadowed by the
apparent inevitability of an open clash be-
tween the Speaker's nephew, State Attorney
General Edward McCormack, whom he loves
like a son, and the President's youngest
brother, Ted, both of whom covet the Mas-
sachusetts Democratic senatorial nomina-
tion.
But O'Brien must concentrate his sharpest
attention'on the big show in the main tent.
It will take all the talents he can muster
to rally the leadership and the rank and file
to make satisfactory legislative progress, es-
pecially to hoist into place the keystone
of Mr. Kennedy's 1962 international design-
a revolutionary trade bill to provide a way
for the American and European economies
to combine their strengths and flourish to-
gether.
The deepest trouble is not in the Senate.
There, under the gentle but insistent hand
of Majority Leader MANSFIELD, the Demo-
crats can quite consistently manage to put
together administration majorities. The
deepest trouble is in the House, whose. Mem-
bers, in the acid words of one White House
aid, have shown a capacity to perform"with
about as much discipline as a bunch of
Baluba tribesmen." A rightwing coalition
of midwest Republicans and southern Detrlo-
crats dominates the House. To win, the
administration needs liberal Republican
votes, but the sharp whipcracking of Min-
ority Leader CHARLES HALLECK, a veteran of
political infighting, can make this extremely
difficult.
Whether the administration has begun
this session with the right strategy is a mat-
ter of debate in Washington. It has already
suffered a major defeat: congressional veto
of the President's plan to add a Cabin e post
for urban affairs with a Negro, Dr. >bert
C. Weaver, now Chief of the Federal Housing
Agency, as its first head. How effectively
the issue can be raised to haunt Republicans
in the big cities and among urban Negro
voters-where Richard Nixon lost in 1960-
remains to be seen.
But O'Brien knew from the outset that
nothing would move easily, that success on
major measures like trade liberalization and
"medicare" for the aged would require fight-
ing every inch of the way.
Larry O'Brien is, obviously, a political real-
ist; like his chief, he believes that politics
is the art of the possible. Son of a Spring-
field, Mass., hotelkeeper, he grew up in the
turbulence of Massachusetts politics, joined
forces with Congressman John F. Kennedy
in his first run for the Senate in 1952 and
has been sharing-and helping to enrich-
the dazzling Kennedy political fortunes ever
since. To the roots of his crewcut red hair,
O'Brien's very being seems to throb with the
pulse of politics.
A politician learns early that privacy is a
luxury he can rarely afford, but O'Brien at-
tempts to reserve Sunday afternoons for long
walks along the old canal edging the Po-
tomac or through Dumbarton Oaks, a lovely
park near his home. He is usually accom-
panied on these sorties by Mrs. O'Brien,
their 3-year-old Chesapeake retriever, named
Jefferson-Jackson, and 16-year-old Larry Jr.,
who, though his father thinks he has a
flair for journalism, is determined at this
point to go into politics.
O'Brien's taste in literature is "relatively
light stuff-blood-and-guts novels, includ-
ing detective stories." He likes to catch a
movie now and then but he almost never
can make a favorite on its first run. Though
he and the President are dedicated to each
other, it does not seem strange to O'Brien
but what have you done for me lately?" On
the whole, the chorus of praise is hearty.
"Frankly," confides a Cabinet officer reared
in the rough-and-tumble of State politics,
"he is the very best of the White House pros.
There are always a hell of a lot of idea guys
available but the Larrys are hard to find.
He knows that ideas are fine but that they're
no damn good unless they can be translated
into action."
An O'Brien aid puts it this way: "He has
a great sixth sense of judging the change in
a man as the situation changes. He under-
stands that everybody is different and every
congressional district has different problems.
He knows that every Member of Congress
tailors his vote this way: 'What does it
mean tome?' "
There are New Frontiersmen, even in-the
White House, who feel the administration's
pitch concentrates too narrowly on Congress,
that the President should carry the issues
more frequently to the people and build
up pressure on the legislators in their home
constituencies. O'Brien's answer is this:
"These Senators and Representatives, for
better or worse, are here as elected repre-
sentatives of the people and you've got to
deal with them. Fireside chats are all right,
but it's the intimate contact with Congress
that really counts.
"Why does a Congressman vote the way
he does? Of course he is vitally interested
in the effect on his district but-and this
may sound naive-I am. convinced he con-
siders the national interest, too. He travels
both roads."
One of O'Brien's toughest tasks is to con-
vince the legislator that the two roads con-
verge. "You can't ask a Congressman to com-
mit hara-kart," he tells his staff. "Never try
to 'con' a Member. Try to persuade him on
the basis of the facts. Try to convince him
that if he votes with us he won't get as much
flak. as he feared." .
O'Brien's easy, friendly, but respectful ap-
proach is illustrated by a happening last
January. As a kind of ceremonial exercise,
Minority Leader HALLECK ran for the speak-
ership against MCCORIVIACK, whose hallowed
trappings of seniority and record of hard
work made the outcome never in doubt.
After the doughty Indianian had been beat-
en-248 to 166-he got a call from the White
House. "I hope," chuckled Larry O'Brien,
"that you'll let us win another one."
Both men knew that that first ritualistic
decision of the session would be the last with-
out a real contest, and they prepared in the
good-natured grimness of politics to go to
work-on each other.
Mr. YOUNG of Ohio. Mr. President,
I wish to comment on the foreign as-
sistance program of the present ad-
ministration. I feel that our President
and the administration are deserving of
credit for-giving the program its proper
name. When I first became a Member
of the Senate, following the election of
1958, in the closing years of the Eisen-
hower administration, the program was
called the mutual security program. It
is properly termed a foreign assistance
program. I am happy to see the present
frankness and honesty to the American
people.
that he does not travel with the egghead Mr. President, I wish to Say that I
and society set to nonpolitical White House have had occasion to participate in study
soirees. The two men don't discuss books missions in the Far East, and more re-
or plays. They discuss their mutual in- cently in a 26-day study mission in South
terest, politics. America with three of my colleagues.
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 Approved For Release 2004/01/15 : CIA-RDP64B00346R000300060002-5
1962 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-- SENATE
4605
bill then these countries will preserve their Mr. President, I ask unanimous con- compiled by assistant Claude J. Desautels
independence, the poverty and unemploy- sent that the article previously referred from the weekly reports of Cabinet liaison
ment in these unfortunate places will be to be included at this point in the REC- Officers. This goes to the President as the
cured, and we will assure ourselves victory core of his intelligence for his Tuesday
ORD. breakfast discussions with the party leader-
over This over comis notmunismm. erely nonsense but a very There being no objection, the article ship. Often Mr. Kennedy likes to talk
dangerous illusion. It raises hopes beyond was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, politics at the end of the day. It's a rare
any possible chance of fulfillment, as any- as follows: occasion when O'Brien's main workload is
one will know who reflects on the billions O'BRIEN PRESSES ON WITH THE "FouR P's" dispatched before mid-evening.
of foreign aid paid out over 15 years and the (By Edward P. Morgan) How does a White Houselobbyist operate?
state of the world today. In Laos and Viet- What are his weapons? O'Brien's arsenal
WASHLNGTON.-In its first year, the Ken- comprises, basically, the "four P's": Pressure,
ham, for example, 7ro aid has made nedy administration did surprisingly well in Patronage, Prestige, and Personal Contact,
hardly a dent in deep.,-roo eed poverty and getting what It wanted on Capitol Hill- He ranks the last first, on the proved
the as security as ever. independence is today partly because it carefully did not ask too theory that successful politics is a matter of
as pow illusory ever. these oversold promises are controversial a package. Congress passed a personal relations. He knows everybody
How illusory hue housing bill, approved a rise in the and his brother. He is aware of their prob-
Latin especially clear in the reports from m g g rob-
Latin America by our Mr. Evans, currently minimum wage, and voted extensive foreign lems and alert to their ambitions. He senses
appearing on this page. The. poverty and aid. when he can trade a favor for a vote.
backwardness of some of these countries is This year promises to be different. The One of" his most precious tools is an in-
thoroughly documented; so is the danger of President has a much more ambitious pro- tangib)e one: the prestige of the Presidency.
Communist infiltration, some of it growing gram that he wants to get through Con- Instinctively, most legislators don't like to
it is -ins to face recalcitrance nloo , mi+h +ha ^71,i+n sr,,,,~~~~naniano char,
out of that poverty and backwardness. To
out
this extent, the picture painted by. Wash-
ington Is not overdrawn.
Yet it is something else again to pretend
that the magic cure is a mammoth injection
of U.S. dollars. Or that a dollar spent for
foreign aid serves equally to defend us as a,
dollar spent upon our own defenses. Or
that if Congress curtails the administra-
tion's program the want of a dollar will be
the cause of chaos and communism.
It shouldn't be necessary for us to say, al-
though it probably is, that we are not op-
posed to foreign aid as such. Fifteen years
ago this newspaper supported the program
for Greece and Turkey, and encouraged the
objectives of the Marshall plan in Europe.
There are many ways today in which Amer-
ican aid can be effective both in helping
other countries and in promoting our own
interests.
It is the oversell of the program that is
largely responsible for its scandals of waste
and corruption abroad and the growing dis-
illusionment with it at home. Worse, these
things have combined to diminish its ef-
fectiveness. And worst of all, the American
people are thus deprived of the sensible
discussion that is essential if we are to act
wisely in apportioning our efforts and our
resources.
All this is as true of the tariff bill, or of
medical and. educational programs, as it Is
of foreign aid. Perhaps it is good politics
for the administration to argue for every
road or school appropriation on the ground,
In Mr. Reston's phrase that "failure to build
them will mean the triumph of communism
for the next 100 years." But exaggerated
promises and appeals to fear suggest a pov-
erty of political leadership.
'LAWRENCE O'BRIEN ;
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, in
the New York Times of Marc)i 25, 1962,
there appears an article by Edward P.
Morgan entitled "O'Brien? Presses On
With the 'Four P's'." It As a study of
Lawrence O+Brien, Special Assistant to
the President for Cong7essional Affairs,
better known to all of us as Larry 0'-
Brien. It is an ex llent article, Mr.
President, and I wouudadd to it only this:
In the 20 years that I have been in Con-
gress, I have never known a more effec-
tive Presidential representative on the
Hill than Lart'y O'Brien. He under-
stands the Congress as well as the needs
of the Presidency and he has blended
this knowledge into a conduct of his
office which serves both the President
and the Congress and, most of all, the
interests of the people of the United
States. Ile is the right man, in the
right job, at the right time.
if not hostility. Take, first, the bundle or
priority bills for 1902: trade, medical care,
tax reform, welfare, aid to higher education-
every item is controversial. Second, these
matters are of more concern to city th9n
country populations, more national than sec-
tional in interest, more liberal than con-
servative in tone. The task is to try to move
this bundle through a Congress which is
more conservative than liberal, .Snore sec-
tional than national in outlook and dispro-
portionately dominated (especially in the
House)`by rural rather than bq urban voters.
A formidable challenge in -any session, this
combination is even tougher now because
1962 is a non-Presidential election year in
which the opposition trliditionally gains seats
in Congress. Such prYispects make Congress
more restive, more sensitive to local demands
over national responsibility. Add the fact
that tie carrot of patronage was largely con-
sumed last session and that in order to apply
the stick deftly, the Viiiite House must work
with a new-and so far bumbling -House
leadership and cultivate new intelligence
sources. That is a working outline of the
administftion's problem.
Thor 'are, of course, weighty factors on
the White House side-the President's very
high popular standing, his strong political
prestige, his personal persuasive powers. The
trick is to bring these factors to bear in the
right place and at the right time as the new
legislation comes up. And the key man in
this tactical maneuver is Lawrence Francis
O'Brien, the amiable, chunky, 44-year-pid
Special Assistant to the President for Coif,-
gressional Affairs. Put more succinctly, he 18.
the lobbyist for the White House on Capitol
Hill, and he shows signs of becoming the
the Chief Executive is strong and popular.
O'Brien is playing to the hilt the- remark..
able rise in Mr. Kennedy's public popularity
over the past year. All but a score of Demo-
cratic Congressmen had led the President in
their districts in the 1980 voting. Thus
their mood a year ago was one of "he needs
us more than we need him." Now many
Congressmen are having second thoughts
about who needs them. Yet this is a fragile
bond, easily broken.
If it falls, and if the issue is sufficiently
critical, the heavy artillery of pressure and
patronage will then be wheeled up, Some-
times patronage is more damaging when
withheld than helpful when proffered. Dur-
ing the 1961 fight on foreign aid, one Con-
gressman threatened to hamstring the bill
if he didn't get a veterans' hospital for his
district. He didn't-it was rejected as un-
sound-and he helped push the amendment
which killed the President's key request for
long-term borrowing authority. "The deci-
sion against the hospital," O'Brien said later,
"was still right."
The pleas of favor-seekers rain down con-
stantly on the White House and most of
them find their way to O'Brien's handsome
wood-paneled suite on the second floor of the
Ltecutive Wing. About 150 telephone calls
alone come in daily from officeholders, office-
seekers, State chairmen and plain citizens
asking for Larry. No request, whether in-
volving a dam or a White House tour, goes
unacknowledged.
"We're digging in hard for you," O'Brien's
able House liaison chief, a lanky North Caro-
lina lawyer named Henry Hall Wilson,
'.drawled to a Congressman on the phone re-
egntly. "We'll surely try to work it. We're
f(f; you."
tough. He believes the full facts on a bill posite number for Senate liaison, Mike N.
can often be most persuasive in dispelling Manatos, patronage specialist Richard K.
a Congressman's doubts and fears about it. Donahue and the whole staff is finely trained
O'Brien's own zestful capacity for work in the O'Brien technique of avoiding out-Of-
seems, like his boss', inexhaustible. After hand rejection of congressional supplicants,
checking the New York Times, the Wall if possible. '""It's a hell of a damaging blow
Street Journal and the Washington Post at to a Congressman," one ' aide reflects, "to
breakfast at home in Georgetown (where he have to confess to a constituent with a pet
and his wife Elva often entertain inform- project or a bothersome brother-in-law want-
ally), he usually reaches his office shortly ing a job that hb hasn't enough influence
after 8 am., nearly an hour before the sec- even to get 1600 ?ennsylvania Avenue to
retaries are due. Place it under advis9;nent. But If he can
Depending on the urgency of legislation, honestly report it's 'under active considera-
President Kennedy may call him in once, tion,' it may ease him o}f,the hook."
twice, three times a day for consultation. Little kindnesses, common courtesies, dis-
They have no special, schedule. "When you pensed under the magnify' n magic of Presi-
need him, you see him," O'Brien has said. dential prestige, can do won Fs to encour-
"It's a total access kind of thing." Inter- age congressional help. Note rybody can
spersed, with lunch on the fly, are long con- be budged. Nothing, for examp could cle-
ferences on Capitol Hill with Senate Majority fleet Louisiana Congressman Orr `.PASSNAN
Leader MIKE MANSFIELD, Senate Whip HUBERT from his one-man war against foreign aid.
HuMPHREY, House Speaker JOHN MCCORMAcx, But O'Brien's personal thoughtffllpess,
House Majority Leader CARL ALBERT, House coupled with the President's own winning
Whip HALE BOGGS, and assorted lobbyists. personality and studied respect for his elders,
If It's a Monday, it's time by late afternoon has had astonishing results, especially with
for O'Brien to pore over the 10-page memo the southerners.
Approved For Release 2004/01/15 : CIA-RDP64B00346R000300060002-5
 Approved For Release 2004/01/15 : CIA-RDP64B00346R000300060002-5
MEMORANDUM FOR: t a
For information only. Attached is an
extract from today's Congressional Record
where Senator Young of Ohio complains about
too many people at overseas posts and
particularly discusses CIA people both abroad
and here. A copy has been sent to DD/ P for
their information.
25X1
25X1
Le dative Counsel
(DATE)
27 March 1962
FORM NO (V I RELACES
7AYF BE M USE 10-101
1 AU
Approved For Release 2004/01/15 : CIA-RDP64B00346R000300060002-5