Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Asia and the Pacific, Volume VI, Part 1

Lot 54D423

Memorandum by Mr. Robert A. Fearey of the Office of Northeast Asian Affairs

secret

[Tokyo —1951.]

Minutes—Dulles Mission Staff Meeting February 1, 10:00 AM

Ambassador Dulles’Speech

Ambassador Dulles said that Mr. Rusk had telephoned¹ with reference to his speech and had cleared it with certain modifications. As revised, the key paragraph refers to the “retention” of US forces in Japan rather than to a “committal” of such forces. Ambassador Dulles said that he had avoided the use of the word “retention” because of its possible connotations as signifying a continuation of the occupation. He guessed that Washington had changed it due to the controversy over the President’s power to send US forces abroad in peacetime.²

Meeting with Democratic Party Leaders

Ambassador Dulles said that the meeting with the Democratic Party leaders had been generally satisfactory, going to the heart of the problem in a more fundamental way than the first meeting with Mr. Yoshida. Ambassador Dulles mentioned that he had sought to discourage action which might contribute to popular pressure for the return of the Ryukyus. The Democratic representatives seemed disposed to cooperate on the whole. They were critical of the Prime Minister on the grounds that he had refused a non-partisan handling of the treaty. Ambassador Sebald said that there was considerable politics involved here, the Democrats having demanded three places in the Cabinet which Yoshida had refused to grant. Mr. Tomabechi,³ who said that he had not quite finished his questions when the interview ended, accepted Ambassador Dulles’ offer to submit a memorandum⁴ raising these questions and expressing any further views the party wished to present.

Second Talk with Yoshida

Ambassador Dulles said that he and Mr. Yoshida had gone over the memorandum submitted by the Prime Minister. He had emphasized to Mr. Yoshida the undesirability of allowing a campaign about the Ryukyus to get under way. Mr. Yoshida had seemed to accept this position. Ambassador Dulles said that the meeting had been more satisfactory than the first one, specific problems of the security arrangements and stationing of troops having been discussed.⁵

Paraphrase of Treaty

Ambassador Dulles said that he had asked Mr. Fearey to prepare an expanded paraphrase of the multilateral treaty draft drawn up in Washington. The paraphrase would be handed to the Japanese for their views.⁶

Raw Materials Allocation

Ambassador Dulles said that he had had dinner with General Fox and had mentioned the necessity of proper planning so that the Japanese would be able to make an effective case after the treaty for their imported raw material requirements. Ambassador Sebald said that it might not be too early to begin sending Japanese to Washington to learn the ropes on this question. General Magruder said that he had been pressing this proposal from Washington. Ambassador Sebald said that had an instruction been sent him he would have been able to raise the matter directly with General MacArthur and very possibly secured his approval of the plan.

Ambassador Dulles’ Press Conference

Ambassador Dulles said that his press conference the previous afternoon had gone off smoothly with few questions.

1. No memorandum of this telephone conversation has been found in Department of State files.
2. In telegram 1197 to Tokyo, January 31, marked “For Dulles from Rusk”, the Department had stated in part that the mentioned change had been “requested by highest authority”. Another portion of the telegram read: “FYI President did not have opportunity to read entire text but expects to do so prior to ur delivery. Entire text read by Sec.” (694.001/1–3151)
3. Gizo Tomabechi, Chairman of the Supreme Committee of the People’s Democratic Party.
4. No memorandum such as is described here has been found in Department of State files. However, a memorandum by Mr. Fearey of Ambassador Dulles’ conversation held January 31 with Mr. Tomabechi and other leaders of this party is in Lot 54D423.
5. No memorandum of Ambassador Dulles’ conversation held January 31 with the Prime Minister has been found in Department of State files.
6. See the provisional memorandum of February 3, p. 849.