Office of the Historian

795.00/3–352

Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State (Battle)

secret
[Washington,] March 3, 1952.

Participants:

  • Secretary of Defense Lovett
  • Mr. Acheson
[Page 73]

Mr. Lovett called Mr. Acheson this afternoon regarding the proposed message to President Syngman Rhee on the question of the personal representative of the President to deliver that message.1 Mr. Lovett said that Mr. Murphy had called him before lunch and said that the President wanted to know the JCS views on the matter. Mr. Lovett had the JCS consider it at their two o’clock meeting this afternoon and they have reached the following conclusions:

1.
They consider a message from the President to Syngman Rhee appropriate.
2.
They have no comments on the details of the message which they regard as purely political.
3.
They prefer a non-military man as personal representative and think it would be a mistake to use an active five-star admiral for this purpose for the following reasons:
a.
They are afraid rumors will start about impending action against China or something of that sort. They also fear that it will be interpreted as an indication that truce negotiations have broken down.
b.
They think it will be very hard to explain publicly. (Mr. Acheson agreed this was a difficult problem.)
c.
Admiral Nimitz would need extensive briefing here in Washington before he could make the trip.

Mr. Lovett said he did call Mr. Murphy back on these matters and Mr. Murphy remarked that the President had spoken to Admiral Dennison about it and that he understood from Admiral Dennison that the President was now opposed to any message at all.

Mr. Lovett asked the Secretary whether he should await word from him before doing anything further and the Secretary said that he should and promised to discuss the matter with people in the Department this afternoon.

  1. On Mar. 1, 1952, Johnson prepared a memorandum for the JCS on this question at the request of General Collins. It was attached to a memorandum from Johnson to Matthews, Mar. 1, 1952, neither printed. (795.00/3–152)↩