Office of the Historian

795.00/1–1152: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Embassy in France1

top secret
Washington, January 11, 1952—1:29 p.m.

3999. Pls deliver fol personal msg to Schuman from Sec.

“I greatly appreciate your msg of Jan 32 indicating your Govts consent to the proposed statement on Korea. We are not unmindful of [Page 15] the difficulties, or lacking in sympathy with your Govt in regard to problems which might adversely affect the situation in Indochina. As indicated in my msg of Jan 2,3 however, I am convinced that the proposed statement wld not aggravate the situation in the Far East. Indeed, it shld make possible the achievement of an armistice in Korea which we all desire and which cld be the first step towards a gen improvement of the situation in that part of the world.

I have considered the two points made in your msg of Jan 3. Nothing in the agreed statement intends or implies any change in existing understandings between our Govts as to prior consultations before taking any necessary action against air bases in Manchuria. If, after an armistice, the situation envisaged in the statement shld arise, the US Govt wld, except in circumstances of the gravest emergency greatly endangering the security of the United Nations forces, consult with all countries having armed forces in Korea on the specific measures to be taken against China.

In regard to the situation in Indochina, we have been informed of the plans your Govt has for bringing the matter to the United Nations in the event of certain developments.4 If the situation in Indochina becomes one in which United Nations action is appropriate and desirable, the French Govt may count on our full support in the United Nations.”5

Acheson
  1. This telegram was drafted by Louis Henkin of the Bureau of United Nations Affairs and cleared by Bonbright and Johnson in draft and by Matthews in final form.↩
  2. Schuman’s message was included in telegram 3976 from Paris, Jan. 4, 1952, p. 8.↩
  3. Acheson’s message was transmitted in telegram 3780 to Paris, Jan. 2, p. 2.↩
  4. Reference was to the intention of France to appeal to the United Nations in the event of an invasion of Indochina by Chinese Communist forces. For documentation on this subject, see Foreign Relations, 1951, vol. vi, Part 1, pp. 332 ff.↩
  5. The following phrase at the end of the telegram was deleted by Secretary Acheson, “for the measures necessary in the circumstances.”↩