711.5893/7–2552
No. 43
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation,
by Jeffrey C. Kitchen, Special
Assistant to the Secretary of
State
Participants:
- Mr. Lovett, Secretary of Defense
- Mr. Acheson
The Secretary telephoned Mr. Lovett this morning. Mr. Acheson said the British Embassy had sent someone to the Department this morning to find out about the following:
Yesterday in Chicago at a Navy League meeting, the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Kimball, spoke off the record. There was present at the meeting the British Consul General at Chicago. Kimball reportedly said that within the next two or three days there would be a large naval air task force operation off the China coast and that in this operation Navy flyers would overfly Chinese cities instead of keeping outside the three-mile limit. The Secretary said the Consul General had reported this to London, where there was a strong reaction, and we are being asked if it is true. Mr. Lovett said that he didn’t think that there was anything to this report. Francis White-hair (Under Secretary of the Navy) is back and Mr. Lovett said he would talk with him.
The Secretary asked if Mr. Kimball was in Chicago yesterday and Mr. Lovett confirmed that Kimball was in Chicago and was at the Navy League meeting.
Mr. Lovett said that he believes that the large Navy task force is not in the reported location at the moment, but he would call the Secretary after checking on the matter.1
Mr. Acheson said that if anything does happen now, we will really be in trouble with our Allies.
- A memorandum by Kitchen, misdated July 24, stated that Secretary Lovett had called back to say that they had been in touch with Kimball, who said that the statement attributed to him was inaccurate; he had not said that the planes would overfly Chinese cities but that the maneuvers showed what could happen if they were required to do so. (711.5893/7–2452)↩