The President's News Conference

THE PRESIDENT. I have no special announcements to make this morning, but I will try to answer questions, if I can.

[1.] Q. Mr. President, have you decided to appoint Dr. Philip Jessup as roving negotiator for international conferences?

THE PRESIDENT. Dr. Jessup has been made Special Ambassador, in view of the work that he has been doing for the United Nations, and to give him a better place in negotiating in that organization.

[2.] Q. Mr. President, in view of the recent downward trend in prices, do you still feel that you need the standby inflation controls?

THE PRESIDENT. I certainly do.

Q. When would you expect a bill to go up to the Hill on that subject, sir?

THE PRESIDENT. It will be--I think it's already up there, isn't it?

Dr. Steelman: It isn't ready yet.

THE PRESIDENT. It isn't ready. It will go up right away. My position is just the same as it was when I read the message to the Congress. I think it's just as necessary as it was then.

[3.] Q. Mr. President, do you have any comment on yesterday's criticism by the CIO that your administration has bungled repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act?

THE PRESIDENT. I have no comment. I didn't see the criticism. I have not been officially notified of it except from your question just now.

[4.] Q. Mr. President, have you any comment on the downward trend in commodity prices?

THE PRESIDENT. I have no comment.

[5.] Q. Mr. President, when will you announce your policy on farm support prices?

THE PRESIDENT. The Secretary of Agriculture will appear before the proper committee and make that perfectly clear when he goes over there.

Q. Soon?

THE PRESIDENT. Just as soon as the committee is ready to hear him.

[6.] Q. Mr. President, Governor Dewey is in town this week and the Governor wants to know why the Federal Government is insisting on spending around $450 million in public tax money developing the power of the St. Lawrence, when New York State would develop it by a private bond issue?

THE PRESIDENT. That question has been answered time and again in the Congress. I would advise you to read the record. It hasn't changed any.

[7.] Q. Mr. President, Mr. Dewey was lamenting the fact that the Republican Party is split wide open. Do you have any advice for him that would--

THE PRESIDENT. I gave him all the advice I possibly could during the campaign. [Laughter]

[8.] Q. Well, Mr. President, how are we going to get into the Dewey dinner? The new Senator, Margaret Smith of Maine, said that the administration is a government by pressure groups. Do you think so?

THE PRESIDENT. No, I don't think so. I think--I think the good lady was mistaken.

[9.] Q. Mr. President, I suppose you are familiar with what the Secretary of State said yesterday in the statement concerning the Hungarian Mindszenty matter?

THE PRESIDENT. That statement had my entire approval.¹

¹Secretary Acheson's statement of February 9 is published in the Department of State Bulletin (vol. 20, p. 230). The statement referred to the trial of Jozsef Cardinal Mindszenty as a "conscienceless attack upon religious and personal freedom." The statement continued as follows:

"In their conduct of the case of Cardinal Mindszenty, the Hungarian authorities do not appear to have omitted any of the usual methods practiced by a police state. Such proceedings constitute not the administration of justice but wanton persecution. They have evoked universal condemnation, and the Hungarian Government must bear full responsibility for its action.

"The cases of Cardinal Mindszenty and other Hungarian Church leaders are not isolated developments. During the past 2 years, with governmental Power entirely in the hands of the minority Communist party, the people of Hungary have been increasingly denied the exercise of fundamental human rights and freedoms. Parliamentary opposition, an element indispensable to the democratic process, has been ruthlessly eliminated, the totalitarian controls of state and party have been laid like a deadening hand upon every phase of daily personal existence, and the Hungarian people have been divested of any real independence.

"The people of the United States, and, without question, peoples of other freedom-loving nations, are sickened and horrified by these developments and fully comprehend the threat they constitute to free institutions everywhere."

Q. I supposed it had. I was going to ask you if anybody suggested that their attitude is in violation of certain treaties that might cause you to want to cut off relations?

THE PRESIDENT. It has been stated that their action is in violation of certain treaties. It hasn't been carried out to the logical conclusion. I think the treatment of the Cardinal is infamous, and it will go down in history as one of the black spots on Hungary's historical career.

Q. May I ask you--did I understand you to say that their action is in violation of treaties, or had been suggested?

THE PRESIDENT. It has been suggested that it is in violation of treaties. I don't know whether it is or not.

Q. Mr. President, you said, I think, that the treatment of the Cardinal is infamous, and then you went on to say you think it will go down in history as a blot on the nation which--

THE PRESIDENT. Which carried on a kangaroo court like that.

Q. Mr. President, you mean nation or government?

THE PRESIDENT. The nation. The nation is responsible for its government.

Q. Mr. President, in Earl Godwin's question, there was a reference to not only a violation of treaties but the suggestion of possibly breaking off relations.

THE PRESIDENT. I said that that matter is being investigated. I have no more comment to make on it, because I don't know. The experts haven't reported to me yet.

Q. Mr. President, may we quote the word "infamous"?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes.

Q. Also "black spot"?

Q. Mr. President, when you said a nation is responsible for its government, do you think that is always true in a Communist movement today?

THE PRESIDENT. I can't answer that intelligently, but in a police state the people are never really responsible for their government, and Hungary certainly is a police state.

Q. That's right.

Q. Mr. President, just to avoid any misunderstanding--

THE PRESIDENT. In most any police state, the people are never responsible.

Q.--just before we go on, did I understand you to say that the matter of possibly breaking off relations with Hungary is under study?

THE PRESIDENT. No, you did not.

Q. I thought that was what the question was?

THE PRESIDENT. No, no. I did not say that Mr.--[pause]--Godwin --[laughter]--

Mr. Godwin: Godwin.

THE PRESIDENT.--asked me the question if the action of the--in the trial of the Cardinal did interfere with treaties which various nations had with Hungary. I said that had been suggested but an investigation is being made; but I can't answer that question now.

Q. That was the question I thought implied that.

THE PRESIDENT. Well, he said would that go so far as to involve breaking off relations. That has not been under consideration.

Q. Thank you for verifying it.

Q. It has gotten a little mixed up here. You said that a nation is responsible for its government--

THE PRESIDENT. Well, when you speak of a nation you speak of its government always.

Q. Yes sir. Then--

THE PRESIDENT. What else--what other way can you adopt to make a nation except

Q. I am not arguing with you, sir, I am just trying to get the record--

THE PRESIDENT. That's what I mean--I am speaking of the government of the country of Hungary. It is a national government, undoubtedly, even if it is a police state.

Q. You make a distinction then between the people, and the nation and the government?

THE PRESIDENT. That's right.

Q. The nation and the government are one?

THE PRESIDENT. That's right, that's the way I look at it. The people are entirely distinct from that. I think if the people had their say, they wouldn't have that kind of government.

[10.] Q. Mr. President, a suggestion has been made by the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Committee, I believe that is his position, that this country tell the world how many atomic bombs it now has. Would you state your position on that?

THE PRESIDENT. The Chairman of the Atomic Energy Committee made no such statement. Categorically he told me yesterday that he made no such statement. And of course I am not in favor of disclosing that. It is not a matter for public discussion.

Q. Did he tell you what he said, Mr. President? That was the impression gotten abroad that that was it?

THE PRESIDENT. He said he had made no such statement as that, that he did not believe that way at all, and that that is a matter that is not for public discussion now. I don't want to comment on it at all.

Q. I thought it was Senator McMahon that had made that statement?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't know about that. I hadn't discussed it with him.

Q. Chairman Lilienthal, isn't that right?

THE PRESIDENT. That's correct.

Q. You are referring to Lilienthal?

THE PRESIDENT. To Lilienthal. I was referring to the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.

[11.] Q. Mr. President, are you still hopeful of a $4 billion tax raise, in view of some of the developments on the Hill?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes, I am. I am just as strong for it now as I was when I asked for it in the message.

Q. Mr. President, if we should be heading into a recession of some kind, would you feel that that 4 billion tax increase would-as advised under those circumstances--be apt to be inflationary?

THE PRESIDENT. Just as advisable then as now, for the simple reason that it doesn't affect the expenses of the Government, and we are trying to avoid a deficit.

[12.] Q. Mr. President, are you going to speak at Trinity College in--

THE PRESIDENT. I have been invited, but I made no appointment.

[13.] Q. Mr. President, would you like to see Norway and Denmark and other countries in the North Atlantic Pact?

THE PRESIDENT. I have no comment to make on that.

Q. Mr. President, are you going to see the Norwegian Foreign Minister?

THE PRESIDENT. He hasn't asked for an interview.

Reporter: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT. You're welcome.