Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
President Truman to the Chinese Ambassador (Koo)37
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: I have received your letter of August twenty-eighth, transmitting a message from President Chiang Kai-shek to me.
I should appreciate your transmitting to President Chiang by expeditious means the following mesage38 in acknowledgment of his reply:
“I appreciate receiving your message transmitted to me by your Ambassador, Dr. Koo, in his letter of August twenty-eighth.
“Your references to General Marshall have been noted with gratifition.
“I welcome the indication contained in the concluding paragraphs of your message that strenuous efforts are being made to effect the settlement of the internal problems with which you are confronted. I earnestly hope that at any early date a satisfactory political solution can be reached which will bring about a cessation of armed strife and thereby make it possible for you and the Chinese people to proceed with the great and urgent task of reconstruction. Furthermore, it is my continuing desire that the prompt removal of the threat of widespread civil war through the achievement of political unity will render it feasible for the United States, in the sense of the final paragraph of the United States Government’s policy statement of last December fifteenth, to move forward with plans to assist China in the rehabilitation of its agrarian and industrial economy. Harry S. Truman”
Your courtesy in forwarding to me President Chiang’s message and in transmitting my acknowledgment is appreciated.
Very sincerely yours,
- Handed on September 9 by the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs to the Chinese Ambassador.↩
- Text of this message was drafted in the Department and transmitted on August 30 to General Marshall for his approval before being submitted to President Truman and communicated to the Chinese Ambassador. In transmitting the text, Under Secretary of State Acheson and the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs Vincent explained to General Marshall that “Actually, the State Department considers the Generalissimo’s reply to the President as unsatisfactory in itself and subject to evaluation in the light of subsequent developments.”↩