March 24, 1964 FOMC Minutes

FOMC minutes

Votes for this action: Messrs. Martin, Hayes, Balderston, Daane, Hickman, Mitchell, Robertson, Shepardson, Shuford, Swan, and Wayne. Vote against this action: Mr. Mills. Mr. Mills said he felt the first paragraph of the directive had little significance, and the heart of the directive lay in the second paragraph. The second paragraph directed the Manager of the Account to maintain about the same conditions in the money market as had prevailed in recent weeks, and in his judgment money market conditions in recent weeks had moved toward restriction rather than expansion. Accordingly, he dissented from the directive. Chairman Martin said that he did not agree that market conditions had moved toward restriction, and Messrs. Daane, Hayes, and Hickman associated themselves with the Chairman's view. Mr. Mitchell said that he thought Mr. Mills had a sound point, but he believed the Committee was struggling to develop a type of directive that would present this kind of thing from happening. He hoped that the Committee would have a chance to put an improved directive into effect at the next meeting. Therefore, he voted to approve the directive. reported that a draft had been prepared of a Chairman Martin to the request of the Subcommittee on Domestic Finance possible response of the House Banking and Currency Committee for the Open Market Committee's minutes for the years 1960-1963, inclusive. He thought the Committee should dispose of this subject by the next meeting. The gist of the draft was that the Committee had concluded that possible market

repercussions and other considerations made it unwise for it to release its minutes for 1961 and later years without an appropriate lag. It did not specify any particular lag as appropriate. As Mr. Hayes had suggested at the last meeting, and as the Treasury had indicated, a case could be made for never releasing the foreign currency discussions, but this was projecting into the future. The letter also noted that the Committee was exploring means of making its records through 1960 available to scholars and others, as had been agreed at the last meeting. In response to a question, Chairman Martin said he thought the position taken in the draft was quite tenable under the law, which required that the Committee policy actions be reported to Congress but did not require that its minutes be given to Congress. Chairman Martin then suggested that the members study the draft from the points of view both of the desirability of the position taken and of the language used, and send their comments to the Secretary as soon as possible. He would hope that a final decision would be taken meeting of the Committee, and a response sent to the at the next Subcommittee promptly thereafter. like to raise a question about publication Mr. Hayes said he would the Committee of Open Market Operations in 1963, of the Manager's Report to material. Last year, he noted, the with suitable deletions of confidential had been published in the April Federal Reserve report on 1962 operations and reprinted in the New York Bank's Monthly Review for May. Bulletin

The report had met with quite a good response. The academic community, in particular, had found it to be an enlightening commentary on the conduct of System operations. The New York Bank alone had had requests for over one thousand reprints of the article. This year, as the Committee knew, the second portion of the 1963 report--the detailed chronological section--was being published as part of the Board's Annual Report. Mr. Hayes believed there would be an interested audience for the more analytical review given in the first section of the report, and suggested that publication be considered in a format similar to that adopted a year ago. In the case of the chronolo would mean some duplication of the material in the gical section, this Annual Report, but he believed it would be worthwhile, reaching Board's a somewhat different audience and providing the detailed background that enhance the interpretation of the more general review. would suggested that the Committee members review the Chairman Martin at the next meeting to express their material in question and be prepared views on Mr. Hayes' suggestion. commented that in reaching views on Mr. Hayes' Mr. Mitchell read the first part of the Board's Annual proposal the members should Martin concurred in this suggestion. Report also, and Chairman

It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday, April 14, 1964. Thereupon the meeting adjourned. Secretary