Lot 56D527
Memorandum by the Deputy Director of the Executive Secretariat (Sheppard) to Mr. Windsor G. Hackler of the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs
Subject: NSC Meeting, August 17
Quoted below for information is a section from a memorandum dictated by Mr. Webb after he returned from the NSC meeting Thursday, August 17:
“Item 5. Secretary Johnson raised the question of the Japanese Peace Treaty, security section, and was critical of the Department’s desire to put this on the agenda prior to reaching an understanding on the wording with the Defense Department. He stated that he had been prepared for over a month to discuss this with the Secretary of State, that the State Department had not been prepared to go into the matter and that Defense would prepare a memorandum which would be available to the State Department early next week. The discussion here was somewhat heated, as I told him I was not prepared to accept the charge that the State Department had delayed this matter and I could not make out whether he was suggesting it was not a proper matter for discussion in the Security Council. It was left that we would receive his paper early next week and discuss it at the next NSC meeting. One of Secretary Johnson’s points was that he felt there was no disagreement between the two Departments as to what we wished to do, but that the language prepared by Mr. Dulles did not state the thing clearly and in terms which would not be misunderstood from a military standpoint. He also made the point that some of this language seemed to be related to some of the older treaties with Japan and would, therefore, be subject to misunderstanding.”