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do to Johnson. I agreed to it and he cleared it with Baruch. He talked with McIntyre who thought it was a good idea. A few days later he sent for Hugh Johnson and proposed it to him. So far as I know only he and Johnson were there. Certainly I wasn't present and I don't think McIntyre was present.

According to the President, Johnson did not hit the ceiling and did not say, “Oh no, I won't.” Johnson discussed it with him - so much so that the President telephoned to me and said, “I think that's going to work out all right.”

I remember saying, “Well, congratulations, you must have been very diplomatic,” because Johnson was a very sensitive fellow.

At any rate, Johnson went back to his office. I'm pretty sure that Baruch telephoned him. At any rate, he was in telephonic communication with Baruch within an hour or so after he had seen the President. Baruch tried to lay it on thick - how wonderful it was, what a good thing it would be, how Baruch would help him. He was going over himself, as a matter of fact, and they would meet somewhere in Europe. Baruch said he'd see that he got the proper people to work with him, and so forth.

But by that evening things were changed. Whether Robbie had put this idea into the General's mind, or whether