Oral history transcript, Alexander Buel Trowbridge, Jr., interview 1 (I) A, 2/19/1969, by Paige E. Mulhollan

Biographical information; Background to joining the Department of Commerce; Circumstances that led to his selection as the first Acting Secretary; disadvantages of being “acting;” idea of merging the Department of Labor and Commerce into the Department of Economic Affairs; Labor was 95% against the new Department; Labor-Management Advisory Committee studies merger and proposed that it not be done; personal contact with the President; White House staff; Cabinet meetings were basically informational; explaining Vietnam policy across the country; Interagency Committee structure; Balance of Payments Committee; Kennedy Round; Relations with the Budget Bureau and the Council of Economic Advisors; LBJ’s relationship with businessmen; Sidney Weinberg; Al Nickerson; Bev Murphy; dispute with Luther Hodges and the Business Council and the National Alliance of Business; idea that Commerce Department is held in fairly low esteem; freedom in appointments.