Office of the Historian

493.419/9–1852

No. 52
Memorandum by the President to the Secretary of State

personal and confidential
Washington, September 18, 1952.

In an interview which I had with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretaries of the various Military Departments and the Chiefs of Staff, it was reported to me that the monthly tonnage through Hong Kong was 500,000 tons—

  • 20% of which is retained in Hong Kong
  • 40% is shipped into China coastwise, and
  • 40% is shipped directly to China from Hong Kong

and that there has been a decided increase in the tonnage of British ships transporting supplies to China.

In addition to the Hong Kong tonnage it seems that there is 500,000 tons going into other ports. These figures are on a monthly basis.

I am thinking seriously about writing a personal letter to Churchill and reminding him of his conversation with me in which he stated that he would stop the British transport service from furnishing these supplies to Communist China.1

I’d like to have your viewpoint on this subject.

H. S. T.
  1. The subject was discussed in the Truman–Churchill conversations of Jan. 5 and 6; see footnote 1, Document 3.↩