Recording begins with conversation already in progress. DDE is speaking of the political situation in the country and difficulties he is having with Congress. DDE brings up the subject of a Special Assistant or a Cabinet rank official for disarmament. He says that he is "going to make him the American expert on disarmament." This person would "correlate the views of Defense and State and everybody else on the Hill and me and somebody else, how do we speak with one voice on this thing and make it logical and appealing and sensible and make some progress?"
He states that he is going to take his time to get the one person he believes can do the job, Harold Stasser, but "Congress is raising so much hell about him because I think it's because they don't like Harold." DDE discusses the importance of having someone representing him with all the agencies involved in disarmament. He says "I don't attend the OCB and I need someone that is representing my views there, bring it back to me and keeping me in touch all the time. . . you're organized so poorly in the top office here that you have to take specialists and I have never yet found a . . . a good man or a better man."
After a brief discussion on public service, DDE mentions the need to bring in younger people so they might gain experience. He talks of Bob Anderson, Herbert Hoover, Chris Herter, Charles Halleck and his brother Milton. He says that they have energy and new ideas that could benefit the country. He talks about "the demands made on my time by people that come in . . .it's terrific and it's a wear and tear." He talks about during the war when he had difficulty sleeping "and now, this has happened to me a couple of times to me here & it's been very annoying. Of course, one of the reasons is I have this bursitis. It gets to hurting so about 3:00 in the morning, the pain. And I would get up and take aspirin, take a pill, and so on."
The conversation continues, however, much of it is unintelligible. DDE thanks Hoffman for coming in. The tape ends with the sounds of chairs moving and papers shuffling .