Editorial Note
On May 14, MacArthur made notes of a conversation between the Secretary and Allen Dulles. An excerpt from these notes follows:
“5. Mr. Dulles made reference to Ambassador Donovan’s proposal regarding the building of an airfield in Thailand. He said he knew the military objected to assigning and tying down a Wing in Thailand, but he thought we should go ahead and build an airfield, leaving open the question of the planes that would use it. This action, he felt, would bolster the morale of the Thais in their continued independence and security.
“The Secretary expressed general agreement. He added that he had talked to Admiral Radford about this question, and Admiral Radford had indicated a strong reluctance to do much with respect to Thailand. The Admiral had expressed the view that we should go after the seat of Communist power in the Far East, namely, China. If we did not do this he felt that measures we took around the periphery of Indochina would be of little avail. It was pointed out to Admiral Radford that whereas Asiatic peoples might be very glad to receive the support of the US to enable them to maintain their integrity and independence, they would be reluctant or opposed to joining with the US in an attempt to destroy Communist power in China. Psychologically, any efforts we made in this direction would probably result in the Asiatics feeling that we were trying to use them in our efforts to get at China rather than that we had a general interest in supporting their independence.
- “6. Reference was made to the Cabinet meeting this morning and a question which arose there as to whether we could not stake out a line which if the Communists crossed would result in war. The difficulty in staking out such a line, with the Communists operating through subversion from within, was discussed. The Secretary said he had been turning over in his mind the possibility of negotiating security treaties in the immediate future with Formosa and Thailand. These treaties would in a sense stake out a position with respect to these two countries. Mr. Allen Dulles indicated that he thought this possibility was worth considering.” (751G.00/5–1454)
For documentation concerning Ambassador Donovan’s proposal, see the compilation on Thailand scheduled for publication in Part 2. The remainder of the notes quoted above are printed in volume XIII, Part 2, page 1562.