Editorial Note
On May 7, President Truman in an address before the Civil Defense Conference in Washington defended his policy of limiting the scope of the fighting in the Far East. He stated that expansion of military activities, for example against mainland China, would lead to a bigger and more costly war, reduce America’s abilities to contribute to Europe’s defense, and perhaps cause disarray and disunity in the ranks of the anticommunist allies presently opposing the Kremlin’s world-wide strategy of destroying freedom. (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1951 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1965), page 265)