UA-R-GC-1914-01-01-1966-08-03_Page-006

I I I Memorandum of Conversation August 2, 1966. At our request, Dr. Bartlett, Mr. Thoron and I met in the office of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Roger Davies, with approximately the same group of State and AID officers with whom we had met on June 16. Until Mr. Davies arrived from a meeting at the White House, Mr. Donal~ Bergus, Director of U.A.R. affairs, acted as Chairman of the JT! "'! '1 " .; •• ~s: . The first matter considered was the question of the pound investment fund. It was recalled that at our last meeting the group had urged us to take soundings on Capitol Hill to determine congressional reaction to an Administration initiative to set up the fund. We reported that we had restricted our soundings to members of the staffs of the House and Senate Foreign Affairs and Agriculture Committees and to the Vice President's office. Having earlier discussed the plan with members of the House and Senate and the Vice President, we did not feel that it was tac­tically desirable to approach them again at this time without a specific proposal from the Administration. We had found, however, that the staff members with whom we talked shared the view of AID and State Department officers that now was as good a time as any to proceed with a proposal. We had also found a consensus that the best route to follow was that followed in the case of the proposal for an Indian-American foundation. By having taken action on the Indian proposal the Administration had established a precedent which could be followed in our case without the risk of debate or the necessity for new legislation. Some staf