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MILITARY SITUATION IN THE FAR EAST

FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1951

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES AND

THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS,
UNITED STATES SENATE,
Washington, D. C.

The committees met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10:06 a. m. in room 212, Senate Office Building, Senator Richard B. Russell (chairman, Committee on Armed Services) presiding.

Present: Senators Russell (chairman, Committee on Armed Services), Connally (chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations), Wiley, George, Smith (New Jersey), Hickenlooper, McMahon, Lodge, Fulbright, Tobey, Sparkman, Gillette, Brewster, Bridges, Byrd, Saltonstall, Johnson (Texas), Morse, Fefauver, Knowland, Hunt, Cain, and Stennis.

Also present: Mark H. Galusha and Verne D. Mudge of the committee staff of the Armed Services Committee: William H. Darden, clerk, Committee on Armed Services; Francis O. Wilcox, chief of staff, and Carl M. Marcy, staff associate, Committee on Foreign Relations.

Chairman RUSSELL. The committee will come to order.

Gentlemen of the committee, our witness today is Secretary of State Dean G. Acheson. Mr. Acheson has headed the State Department during one of the most trying periods in the history of the United States. He has grappled with problems of a colossal magnitude, some of which had never been encountered in our country's prior history.

As Secretary of State he has participated in all of the decisions of recent years which have determined America's global policies. It is fair to say that he is one of the principal architects of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He is probably in as good a position as any man to answer many of the questions this committee has on international relations, particularly in regard to the Far East.

Mr. Secretary, the committee has directed me to administer the oath to all witnesses. Will you please rise and raise your right hand? The evidence which you will give this committee upon all matters asked of you on this inquiry will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Secretary ACHESON. So help me God.

Chairman RUSSELL. Do you have a prepared statement, Mr. Secretary?

PROCEDURAL MATTER OF RELEASING STATE DEPARTMENT INSTRUCTIONS

Senator KNOWLAND. Mr. Chairman, a procedural matter. My understanding was that the first order of business when the Secretary appeared was going to be the procedural matter of to release or not to

release to the public the document of December 23, 1949, and I merely suggest that under that order, that rather than having the Secretary proceed to a general statement, unless he was going to speak on this specific issue, we should take up the procedural matter first.

Chairman RUSSELL. That is a matter that addresses itself to the committee. The Secretary advised me he had a statement about 18 minutes in length. I did not know whether it related to the procedural matter or to a general statement.

Senator KNOWLAND. Well, I understood if the record will be checked that we had a unanimous consent agreement that the first order of business would be the procedural matter, and I consented to the vote going over until today with that understanding.

Chairman RUSSELL. I think the Senator is essentially correct.

Senator MCMAHON. Mr. Chairman, I would like to be heard on this matter.

Senator JOHNSON. Mr. Chairman, I would like to say, if I may be recognized, that Senator Knowland correctly states the modified motion the other day, and I want to read from the Senator's own statement:

As far as I am concerned, if the committee will agree to take it up at thewhen the Secretary of State appears as the first order of business so that we can get it out of the way when the Secretary is before us and not at the end of some questioning, I would be willing to consent so far as I have any control over the situation to postpone the matter until the Secretary appears, provided it is the first order of business.

And the committee accepted that unanimously.
Chairman RUSSELL. Senator McMahon.

HEARING ACHESON FIRST

Senator MCMAHON. Mr. Chairman, you appointed me a member of the subcommittee along with the senior Senator from California to consider the matter of the declassification of documents that were to be produced here, and one of them is this document.

The Senator from California has been seeking the declassification of this document as I understand it for about a year and a half. There have been parts of it that have been released by the United Press out of Tokyo. The release came

Senator BREWSTER. We do not hear very well.

Senator MCMAHON. The release came from Tokyo of this document. I proceeded to examine the document, and after examining it, I told the Senator from California, in my opinion, that the Secretary or some one of the subordinates ought to be heard on that matter before it was put in the record. The Senator from California, as I recollect it, did not either disagree or agree at that point.

I left it with him on Tuesday, about noon, as I recall it, at that point; and I had to leave the city to go to a speaking engagement which had been made many weeks before.

The next day was Memorial Day.

I had no notice from the Senator from California that he was going to bring this matter to an issue in my absence. I would have appreciated being advised that he intended to bring it before the committee.

The committee decided to sit, with which I do not disagree, but I would have appreciated the courtesy of having the matter brought up in my presence.

Senator KNOWLAND. Would the Senator yield?

Senator MCMAHON. No; I will not yield at this point.

We have here a question, a procedural matter regarding one of probably a thousand documents that may well be considered in the course of this investigation.

We have the Secretary of State here, I presume, to make a general statement on the general scope of his testimony; and then, to be submitted to the questioning of the committee.

I just wish to register my protest at taking up this matter, at this time, before the Secretary has a chance to make his general statement. If the Senator from California wishes to bring it up after he has finished with it, I have no objection at all; but I do think the orderly way to proceed about it, and certainly the way I would have urged and insisted, if I had been here, and if I had known this was coming up, should be followed.

Senator KNOWLAND. Mr. Chairman.

Chairman RUSSELL, Senator Knowland.

Senator KNOWLAND. Since the Senator has mentioned my name, I think that the record ought to be very clear on the situation. I did take the matter up with my colleague from Connecticut, who is a member of the subcommittee. We discussed it; I asked him to consult with the Department of State. This was several days ago, the exact date of which I do not recollect.

He did, I understand, consult with the State Department, because on the following day, which I think was the day before Memorial Day, I again talked to him and told him I was anxious to get this document made available before Admiral Sherman was finished and before the Secretary came on the stand.

I understood him to say that the State Department still felt that the matter should not be declassified and that they wanted to be heard on the matter. I have always agreed that on any of these cases the department concerned should be heard.

The night before, and I think before the Senator left for Connecticut, I did again in the record ask that somebody, some representative from the State Department, be present and on Memorial Day, which was a hardship on all Senators who had to meet on that day-and I have canceled out many engagements in my own State and elsewhere in order to attend these meetings-Mr. Fisher, the counsel, as I understand, of the State Department, was here, presented his views. The record is very clear that I wanted and I insisted that the State Department be heard before the committee take any action.

Several motions were then made. I moved, after hearing Mr. Fisher, that the document be made a part of the public record. Senator Johnson of Texas quite properly moved that the matter go over until today. That was defeated, this substitute motion, by a vote of 7 to 7.

At that point I suggested that as a compromise and due to the fact that the Senator from Connecticut was away, that if the committee would agree that this would be taken up as the first order of business, I thought it would be perfectly agreeable to me, and I would not press a vote at that time for the several reasons that we have indicated.

DISPOSING OF PROCEDURAL MATTER FIRST

Now, I think this is a very important matter to be settled. I think we have a gentleman's agreement, as well as a unanimous agreement, that it will be disposed of first. I think it is entirely proper that before a vote is taken, if the Secretary of State himself desires to express reasons why the document should not be made available, that in the general discussion on this matter he be heard to that point; but I do not believe the committee, under the unanimous consent agreement and under the gentlemen's understanding, should proceed to a general statement of the Secretary until we have disposed of this procedural

matter.

Senator WILEY. What is the document?

Senator KNOWLAND. The document is the Department of State Special Guidance No. 28, dated December 23, 1949, policy information paper, relating to Formosa, in which the Department of State advised certain of its representatives overseas that the island of Formosa had no strategic value.

Chairman RUSSELL. The Senator from California is undoubtedly correct. The committee did agree to take this matter up this morning. As I understood his request, it was before any questions were asked, but I shall not haggle over that point. If he desires to insist that we proceed with this before the Secretary makes his brief statement, why, it is my judgment that is certainly covered within the intent of the agreement of the committee on Wednesday.

Senator MCMAHON. Mr. Chairman, does the record show that it is before questions or before a statement is made?

Chairman RUSSELL. The literal statement, as I believe was-well, I shall read it again:

In view of the statements that have been made of the situation and because I feel that this is a matter in which as large a membership of the committee as possible should be present, so far as I am concerned, if the committee will agree to take it up when the Secretary of State appears as the first order of business, so that we can get it out of the way when the Secretary is before us and not at the end of some questioning, I will be willing to consent, as far as I have any control over the situation, to postpone the matter until the Secretary appears, providing it is the first order of business.

The Chair then stated:

I think that is a very reasonable position on the part of the Senator from California, and I hope no one will except to it.

That is the pertinent record with respect to this matter.

In view of that record, and the Senator from California insists upon taking this matter up, the matter of the declassification of the document prior to hearing the statement of the Secretary of State. I shall sustain his position so far as the Chair is concerned with a ruling.

If the Secretary of State deals with the declassification of this matter, however, if he thinks it is wise, I feel he should be permitted to make a statement, and proceed as to the declassification of the document involved.

Mr. Secretary, do you desire to make any statement with respect to the classification imposed by the State Department on this document?

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