Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Korea and China, Volume VII, Part 1

357.AD/7–351

The Secretary of Defense (Marshall) to the Secretary of State

confidential

Washington, July 3, 1951.

Dear Mr. Secretary: I have considered carefully the question of the relationship between the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency and the Unified Command which was the subject of your letter of 16 May 1951.¹ I concur in the draft memorandum for the President which you inclosed and in the draft letter to be addressed by the Department of State to the United Nations Agent General for Korean Reconstruction, which was inclosed with Assistant Secretary Rusk’s letter of 20 June 1951.²

I should like to point out that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have expressed to me their view that the Commander-in-Chief, United Nations Command should retain undivided command over all economic assistance activities in Korea so long as military operations continue. In expressing the concurrence of the Department of Defense in the solution which you have proposed to the problem of organization relationships, I have been guided by the belief that this solution affords adequate protection to the integrity of General Ridgway’s command, as well as by the urgent need for some arrangement whereby UNKRA may commence operations in the near future. I should, therefore, like to make explicit my understanding that the final authority and control of the Commander-in-Chief, United Nations Command, on the ground during hostilities is not intended to be affected by these arrangements and that the scope of the responsibility to be exercised by UNKRA for any program of economic aid additional to the United Nations Command Program shall remain subject to the exigencies of military necessity as determined by General Ridgway.

I consider it important that these arrangements be consummated in such a way as to avoid the creation of a precedent for the commitment of the Government of the United States to the acceptance of the principle of the independent functioning of an international body in an active theater of military operation. It is the view of the Department of Defense that the agreement with respect to UNKRA is appropriate only in the particular circumstances of the present instance.

I should like also to call your attention to a potential problem involving budgetary considerations. During the period of hostilities, the military authorities must have sufficient funds to finance civilian relief in Korea. The relatively sizeable funds available to UNKRA under the proposed Mutual Security Act of 1951³ as compared to those allocated in the Defense budget for civil relief may tend to prejudice Congress against the allocation of supplemental funds for civil relief which may in time be necessary to complete the military mission. The denial by Congress of additional funds for civil relief might place the Department of Defense in the position of having to request funds from UNKRA or to invite the participation of UNKRA in current operations where its participation would not be desirable from a military point of view. It is hoped that due consideration may be given to this problem in the presentation of budgetary requests to the Congress.

Faithfully yours,

G. C. Marshall

1. Not printed, but see the memorandum by Sandifer to Green, dated June 21, and the attachment thereto, p. 541. For Secretary Acheson’s reply to this letter, see p. 768.
2. Not printed, but see footnote 3, p. 543.
3. The Mutual Security Act of 1951 was approved on October 10, 1951 (P.L. 165; 65 Stat. 373); for the authorization and appropriation provisions, see 65 Stat. 376 and 731.