The President's News Conference

THE PRESIDENT. [1.] Practically all the Cabinet officers, and heads of all the agencies, and the advisory committee set up by the Congress, have stated that the office being vacated by Mr. Snyder ought to be continued. And for that reason, I am appointing John Steelman to take over that job, and he will still continue to be the White House labor adviser, at the suggestion of the Secretary of Labor.

That's the only announcement I have to make.

Q. Mr. Steelman will be Director of OWMR?

THE PRESIDENT. That's right.

Q. Regular tide?

THE PRESIDENT. That's right.

[2.] Q. Mr. President, will Mr. Gardner remain Chairman of the Advisory Board?

THE PRESIDENT. Max Gardner has been trying to resign ever since he was made Under Secretary of the Treasury, and we have so far been able to persuade him to ten main. I don't know whether he will stay or not. I would like to have him, of course, if he will.

[3.] Q. Mr. President, will you sign the OPA?

THE PRESIDENT. I can't answer that question until OPA is before me, and I don't know what will be in it.

[4.] Q. Mr. President, do you think there will be a shipping strike tonight?

THE PRESIDENT. No, I don't. I am informed by the Labor Department that there is a very good chance that it will be settled before the day is over.

[5.] Q. Mr. President, have you reached any decision on the J. I. Case Company yet?

THE PRESIDENT. I have it still under advisement.

Q. Mr. President, does that apply to the Allis-Chalmers, too?

THE PRESIDENT. The Allis-Chalmers people are still negotiating. They may be able to settle it without any interference from the Government; I hope they will be.

[6.] Q. Mr. President, do you have any comment on the statement which Mr. Baruch is making today on the atomic energy control--

THE PRESIDENT. Mr. Baruch has been informed of the policy of the President with regard to atomic energy, and I haven't seen his statement, but I imagine he is following the policy as it was outlined to him by myself and the Secretary of State.

Q. Mr. President, is that policy outlined in the so-called Acheson-Lilienthal report?

THE PRESIDENT. No. It's the policy outlined in the directive which I sent to Mr. Baruch.

[7.] Q. Mr. President, in February, when you transmitted the Report of the National Advisory Council to Congress, you said you would recommend to Congress an increase of a billion and a quarter dollars in the Export-Import Bank's lending authority. Do you still plan to do that this session?

THE PRESIDENT. I have not yet got to the point where I can consider that.

[8.] Q. Mr. President, did you have any advance knowledge of Justice Jackson's statement ?

THE PRESIDENT. Justice Jackson wired me on Sunday substantially what he released in Germany, and I suggested to him that he not release it until he had had a chance to talk with me. 1

1 The statement, released in Nuremberg, Germany, where Justice Jackson was on leave from the Supreme Court to serve as chief American prosecutor at the war crimes trials, was in the form of a cablegram to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees considering the nomination of Secretary of the Treasury Fred M. Vinson as Chief Justice. It concerned a much publicized feud within the Court, a controversy which Justice Jackson noted "goes to the reputation of the Court for nonpartisan and unbiased decision." The statement, dated June is printed in the Congressional Record (vol. 92, p. 6724).

Q. Did he subsequently talk to you by telephone ?

THE PRESIDENT. He did not.

Q. He did not?

Going further on that, sir, do you agree with the many critics who are saying that Jackson and Black ought to resign from the Court, for the good of the Court and the country ?

THE PRESIDENT. I have no comment on that.

Q. In the background to that case, did Justice Black or any representative of Justice Black ever threaten at any time that Black would resign if you were to appoint Jackson ?

THE PRESIDENT. I never discussed the appointment of the Chief Justice of the United States with any member of the Supreme Court.

[9.] Q. Mr. President, any prospective change in the Ambassador to Ottawa?

THE PRESIDENT. Not that I know of.

[10.] Q. Mr. President, has there been any indication that Jackson might resign, or Black might resign?

THE PRESIDENT. No. I have made no indications of that sort.

[11.] Q. Mr. President, I have been asked to ask you if you have got any plans to make Mr. McNutt Ambassador to the Philippines ?

THE PRESIDENT. I am going to appoint Mr. McNutt Ambassador to the Philippines. It will be going down today or tomorrow-very soon. He will be Ambassador--the first Ambassador to the Philippines.

[12.] Q. Also, about Governor of Puerto Rico, do you have any news on that?

THE PRESIDENT. No. I have nothing to say on that, about Puerto Rico.

[13.] Q. Mr. President, were you correctly quoted by the Federal Council of Churches that you would recall Myron Taylor after the signing of the Italian peace treaty ?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't think the word recall was used.

Q. No. I stand corrected.

THE PRESIDENT. I made the statement--I am not correcting you--they did say that-whoever did say that said recall--I made the statement to those ministers and bishops who were in here, representing all the Protestant churches, that Mr. Taylor had a special mission to perform. He was sent to Rome by President Roosevelt, to aid in keeping the peace; and I had sent him back, in order to aid in making the peace, and that when the purposes had been accomplished, there would be no official representative of the President at the Vatican.

I don't know how long that will take. However long it takes, we will go through with the thing to the end.

Q. Are you speaking now of the Italian peace?

THE PRESIDENT. Peace in the world.

[14.] Q. Mr. President, the British Foreign Minister, Mr. Bevin, made some very interesting remarks on the Palestine question the day before yesterday. Have you any comment on Mr. Bevin's apparent foreclosure on the plan to ship one hundred thousand Jews to Palestine?

THE PRESIDENT. I haven't seen Mr. Bevin's statement, and it is not--it has not been officially communicated to me; so therefore I have no comment to make on it.

We still are urging the entry of one hundred thousand of these refugee Jews in Germany to Palestine, and are endeavoring to arrive at a means by which that can be done. We are in communication with England now, for that purpose.

Q. Mr. President, has any consideration ever been given to the fact that perhaps we would get along better with England on this subject if we made some gesture toward welcoming a few of these immigrants to the United States ?

THE PRESIDENT. You know what the immigration laws of the United States are. We have to comply with them.

Q. Any intention of recommending any change in the immigration laws--

THE PRESIDENT. I do not.

Q. Mr. President, are you going to publish whom you are going to send to England soon, to settle on what measures we are willing to take to facilitate this one hundred thousand movement?

THE PRESIDENT. That's what this committee is going to England for, to discuss it with the English to see if we can arrive at an agreement.

Q. Is that the Grady committee?

THE PRESIDENT. The special committee that was appointed by the Executive order the other morning, consisting of the Secretary of War, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Treasury.

Q. Are they going over there ?

THE PRESIDENT, No, they are not. They will send representatives. 1

1 Executive Order 9735 "Establishing a Cabinet Committee on Palestine and Related Problems" (3 CFR, 1943-1948 Comp., p. 542) provided that each member of the Committee should designate an alternate to act for and in his behalf. Selected to serve on the Board of Alternates were Henry F. Grady, as alternate for the Secretary of State and designated Chairman, and Goldthwaite Dorr and Herbert Gaston, as alternates for the Secretaries of War and Treasury.

[15.] Q. Mr. President, do you care to say what you will do about the emergency strike legislation, if it comes to you with the Case bill rider on it?

THE PRESIDENT. I never comment on legislation until it is before me. Then I will analyze it, and I will let you know more about it.

[16.] Q. Mr. President, Senators O'Mahoney and Overton proposed a plan under which the Federal Government contribution to the District would have some relationship to the amount of tax-exempt property-Government property--here; and also are proposing that the lump sum be raised from 6 to 10 million dollars a share. Have you any comment on that, sir?

THE PRESIDENT. I am familiar with the so-called Overton plan. I was on the Appropriations Committee in the Senate when Senator Overton worked out that bill. I don't know anything about the new plan, but the suggestions and the equitable approach to it that the Overton plan followed is a good thing. I was in favor of the Overton plan when it was first suggested.

Q. And what about the boost in the lump sum?

THE PRESIDENT. The Overton plan contemplated the boost in the lump sum.

Reporter: Thank you, Mr. President.