and

S.J. Res. 2--"To impose limitations with regard to Executive agreements."³

The two Senate joint resolutions referred to above have been called to my attention.⁴ These resolutions concern matters which directly affect the activities and responsibilities of almost every department and agency of the executive branch.

A sub-committee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary began hearings on S.J. Res. 1 on February 18.⁵ I am advised that the executive departments and agencies will have an opportunity to appear before the committee or to present their views concerning the resolution. In a matter of such fundamental importance it is vital that the Congress know the views of the executive branch. Accordingly, I request the head of each department and agency to examine the effects which these joint resolutions would have on matters coming under the jurisdiction of his department or agency and to prepare an official statement of views concerning them. I also request the head of each affected department and agency to ask the Committee promptly for an opportunity to appear and testify.

The White House staff will cooperate in any way that may be desired in this matter.

The issues raised in these resolutions are of the greatest importance. The constitutional amendment proposed in S.J. Res. 1 would not only impose restraints upon the President or agencies of the executive branch but would affect the powers of the Federal Government as a whole and those of the States. Action by the Congress on either of these resolutions should not be taken without the fullest consideration and debate.

In view of the urgency of coordinating the effort of the departments and agencies affected, a copy of your statement should be forwarded to the White House by Monday, March 2. It is further suggested that the counsel or other appropriate representative of your department or agency be present at a meeting to be held at the White House at 11:00 a.m. Friday, February 27, to effect coordination of the combined efforts.

¹ Sherman Adams distributed this memorandum at the Cabinet meeting of this date and noted plans for a conference on February 27 "to coordinate the information obtained" (Cabinet meeting minutes, Feb. 25, 1953, AWF/Cabinet).

² Republican Senator John W. Bricker of Ohio had reintroduced his proposed constitutional amendment (first offered in the fall of 1951) on January 7, 1953. The resolution had a total of more than sixty joint sponsors. Section 1 provided that "A provision of a treaty which denies or abridges any right enumerated in this Constitution shall not be of any force or effect." Additional sections ensured that no treaty would permit foreign powers or international agencies to supervise or adjudicate the rights of U.S. citizens, that no "treaty shall become effective as internal law in the United States only through legislation which would be valid in the absence of a treaty" (the controversial "which clause"), and that presidential agreements with international organizations or foreign powers would "be made only in the manner and to the extent to be prescribed by law. Such agreements," the Bricker measure concluded, "shall be subject to the limitations imposed on treaties, or the making of treaties, by this article" (Duane Tananbaum, The Bricker Amendment Controversy: A Test of Eisenhower's Political Leadership [Ithaca, N.Y., 1988], p. 223; Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 11, Jan. 30, 1953, 147; Feb. 13, 1953, 218; and Eisenhower, Mandate for Change, pp. 278-83).

President Eisenhower opposed this amendment. Edgar N. Eisenhower earlier had tried to persuade his brother of the threats that treaties, once ratified and become the law of the land, might pose to American civil liberties and property rights. During the presidential campaign Eisenhower had rejected "world government" while steadfastly supporting the United Nations and collective security (Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 824 and 923. See also nos. 109, 118, 121, and 139.

³ With Nevada Senator Pat McCarran as a co-sponsor, Bricker also had submitted this resolution on January 7. It stipulated that such executive agreements would be void unless published in the Federal Register; that they would be "subject to such legislative action as the Congress . . . shall deem necessary or desirable"; and that they would terminate automatically no later than six months following a President's term unless a successor extended them. Section 2 required the President to submit all executive agreements or compacts "requiring secrecy" to the Congress as treaties, "otherwise they shall be of no force or effect except as personal undertakings of the President" (U.S., Congress, Senate, Joint Resolution to Impose Limitiations with Regard to Executive Agreements, 83d Cong., 1st sess., 1953, S.J. Res. 2, Library of Congress microfilm).

⁴ On February 18 the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments (see below) had opened hearings on the Bricker resolution and various substitutes. After talks with Secretary of State Dulles and Attorney General Brownell, Senator Bricker stated that he and the Eisenhower Administration "had found a common desire to work out something." Included among substitute resolutions was one that Edgar Eisenhower's friend Frank E. Holman (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, no. 824) promoted on behalf of the American Bar Association. Late this same day Holman and another prominent Seattle attorney would meet with Eisenhower to discuss, as Holman told reporters, "not the need for an amendment but its text." Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Alexander Wiley announced formation of a subcommittee to examine proposals limiting presidential agreements with foreign governments. Robert A. Taft chaired this subcommittee, which, besides Wiley, also included Republican Senators H. Alexander Smith of New Jersey and Democrats Walter Franklin George of Georgia and Michael Joseph Mansfield of Montana (New York Times, Feb. 19, 22, 25, 1953; Tananbaum, Bricker Amendment Controversy, pp. 80-82).

⁵ The subcommittee consisted of Republicans William Langer of North Dakota (chairman), Everett McKinley Dirksen of Illinois, John Marshall Butler of Maryland, and Democrats Harley Martin Kilgore of West Virginia and Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.