768.00/2–1451: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Embassy in the United Kingdom 1
3799. When asked comment at press conf today on US policy in event mil attack on Yugo, SecState said:
“I don’t think I can say anything specific about it. It is, I think, summed up in the President’s statement in his message of the 19th of July,2 in which he stated that those who had it in their power to unleash or withhold acts of aggression should know that new acts of aggression committed in the world would strain the fabric of world peace to a dangerous extent. That is the broad policy of the US. Our attitude toward aggression is indicated very clearly in [Page 1734] our action in regard to Korea and the UN and in supporting the UN.”3
When asked whether applicability of Pres’s statement had ever been called attn eastern European govts SecState replied he did not know.4
- Drafted by Gannett and cleared with Campbell. Repeated to Belgrade.↩
- The reference is to President Truman’s July 19, 1950, message to Congress on the Korean situation. For text, see Department of State Bulletin, July 31, 1950, p. 163.↩
- In telegram 1103 from Belgrade, February 14, Ambassador Allen reported that Foreign Minister Kardelj had expressed much appreciation for the Secretary of State’s press statement. (768.00/2–1451)↩
- In a statement in the House of Commons on February 15, British Minister of Labour Bevan said that an attack upon Yugoslavia would be a matter of concern to the British Government. For text of Bevan’s statement, see Folliot, Documents on International Affairs, 1951, p. 379.↩