Office of the Historian

August–October 1958, the Taiwan Strait Crisis: The Decision for U.S. Naval Escort of Nationalist Vessels; Resumption of Ambassadorial Talks at Warsaw; Diplomatic Efforts to Reduce Tensions; Secretary of State Dulles’ Visit to Taiwan and the Joint Communiqué of October 23, 1958

161. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the Republic of China

Washington, October 6, 1958, 7:50 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.5/10-658. Top Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Green; cleared by Martin, Parsons, and Robertson and with S/S; and approved by Herter.

162. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the Republic of China

Washington, October 6, 1958, 7:56 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/10–658. Secret; Niact; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Martin, cleared by Parsons and Robertson and with S/S, and approved by Herter.

163. Memorandum for the Files

New York, October 6, 1958.

Source: U.S. Mission to the United Nations, USUN Files, Formosa (1949–1962). Secret. Prepared by Charles D. Cook.

164. Telegram From the Commander, U.S. Taiwan Defense Command (Smoot) to the Chief of Naval Operations (Burke)

Taipei, October 7, 1958, 6:05 p.m.

Source: Department of State, FE Files: Lot 63 D 76, ComTaiwan Telegrams. Secret; Operational Immediate. Received at 7:39 a.m. Also sent to CINCPAC and repeated to COMSEVENTHFLT and CINCPACFLT.

165. Memorandum of Conversation

Washington, October 7, 1958.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–758. Secret. Drafted by Martin on October 13 and initialed by Robertson.

166. Memorandum From President Eisenhower to Secretary of State Dulles

Washington, October 7, 1958.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–758. Personal and Confidential. Attached to the source text are copies of an October 7 memorandum from Robertson to Dulles concerning steps which had been or might be taken to increase the mobility of Nationalist forces and an October 8 memorandum from Greene to Robertson transmitting a copy of the President’s memorandum with a request for thorough study of the idea. The signed copies are ibid., 793.5/10–758; see Supplement.

167. Telegram From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State

New York, October 7, 1958, 8 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–758. Secret; Priority; Limited Distribution. Received at 10:20 p.m.

168. Telegram From the Commander, U.S. Taiwan Defense Command (Smoot) to the Commander in Chief, Pacific (Felt)

Taipei, October 8, 1958, 1:40 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.5/10–858. Top Secret; Operational Immediate. Repeated to JCS, CNO, CINCUSARPAC, CINCPACFLT, CINCPACAF, and COMSEVENTHFLT. Received at the Department of the Navy at 6:13 a.m.

169. Record of Meeting

Washington, October 8, 1958, 4:35–6:04 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–858. Top Secret; Limited Distribution. Drafted by Green. The time of the meeting is taken from Dulles’ appointment book. (Princeton University, Dulles Papers)

170. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Poland

Washington, October 8, 1958, 9:18 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/10–858. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Martin and Becker; cleared in draft by Dulles, Becker, Reinhardt, Parsons, and with OSD; and approved by Robertson. Repeated to USUN for Lodge and to Taipei.

171. Memorandum of Conversation

Washington, October 9, 1958, 3:44–4:05 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–958. Secret; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Parsons. The time of the meeting is taken from Dulles’ appointment book. (Princeton University, Dulles Papers)

172. Memorandum of Conversation

Washington, October 10, 1958, 11:36 a.m.–12:08 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–1058. Top Secret; Limited Distribution. Drafted by Martin. The time of the meeting is taken from Dulles’ appointment book. (Princeton University, Dulles Papers)

173. Record of Meeting

Washington, October 10, 1958, 3 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–1058. Top Secret. Drafted by Martin on October 14. The conversation was held at the Pentagon.

174. Telegram From the Embassy in the Republic of China to the Department of State

Taipei, October 10, 1958, 2 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–1058. Top Secret; Limit Distribution. The documents cited in footnotes 1, 3, and 4 below are in the Supplement.

175. Telegram From the Embassy in Poland to the Department of State

Warsaw, October 10, 1958, 7 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/10–1058. Secret; Niact; Limited Distribution. Repeated to USUN and priority to Taipei.

176. Telegram From the Embassy in the Republic of China to the Department of State

Taipei, October 12, 1958, noon.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–1258. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution. The documents cited in footnotes 1 and 2 below are in the Supplement.

177. Memorandum of Conversation

Washington, October 12, 1958, 5 p.m.

Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Memoranda of Conversation. Secret; Personal and Private. Drafted by Macomber. The conversation was held at the Secretary’s residence. A copy is in Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–1258.

178. Telegram From the Embassy in the Republic of China to the Department of State

Taipei, October 13, 1958, 4 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–1358. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution. Transmitted in two sections. Received at 7:37 a.m. Repeated to CINCPAC.

179. Memorandum of Conference With President Eisenhower

Washington, October 13, 1958, 8:30 a.m.

Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, DDE Diaries. Secret. Prepared by Goodpaster on October 15.

180. Memorandum of Conversation

Washington, October 13, 1958, 10:05 a.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–1358. Top Secret. Drafted by Martin. The time of the meeting is taken from Dulles’ appointment book. (Princeton University, Dulles Papers)

181. Telegram From the Embassy in the Republic of China to the Department of State

Taipei, October 13, 1958, 7 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/10–1358. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution. Received at 10:45 a.m. Repeated priority to CINCPAC.

182. Memorandum of Conversation

Washington, October 13, 1958, 12:06–12:59 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–1358. Secret. Drafted by Mein. The time of the meeting is taken from Dulles’ appointment book. (Princeton University, Dulles Papers)

184. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Poland

Washington, October 13, 1958, 8:19 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/10–1358. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Becker, Martin, and Lutkins; cleared in draft by Dulles, Becker, Parsons, and Green, in substance with OSD, and with S/S; and approved by Martin. Repeated to USUN for Lodge and to Taipei.

185. Draft Talking Paper Prepared by Secretary of State Dulles

Washington, October 13, 1958.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.5/10–1558. Secret; Personal and Private. The source text is marked “#3,” presumably the third draft of the paper. It is filed with a memorandum of October 15 from Murphy to Dulles commenting on “the draft outline which you may be using in connection with your visit to Taipei next week.” A covering note of October 16 from Calhoun to Dulles states that comments by Murphy, Robertson, Gerard Smith, and Becker are attached; that Macomber had no comment; and that Herter and Reinhardt had not responded. Typewritten notes with comments by Smith and Becker are attached to the source text; Robertson’s comments are not.

186. Message From Foreign Minister Lloyd to Secretary of State Dulles

London, undated.

Source: [As discovered during the digitization of this volume, the source information for this document was omitted in the original print edition of this volume.]

187. Telegram From the Commander, U.S. Taiwan Defense Command (Smoot) to the Commander, Seventh Fleet (Kivette)

Taipei, October 14, 1958, 8:44 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–1758. Secret; Priority. Also sent to CINCPAC and repeated to CNO. Received at the Department of the Navy at 5:53 p.m. The source text includes handwritten corrections, apparently made at the Department of the Navy. It is filed with a covering memorandum of October 17 from Reinhardt to Dulles stating that the Joint Chiefs of Staff considered that Smoot’s proposed line of argument set forth in paragraph 4 made sense in general but that they disagreed with his argument that the artillery capability on Kinmen served little purpose.

188. Memorandum of Conversation Between President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles

Washington, October 14, 1958, 6 p.m.

Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Meetings with the President. Confidential; Personal and Private. Drafted by Dulles. The conversation was held at the White House.

189. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Poland

Washington, October 14, 1958, 7:58 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/10–1458. Secret; Niact; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Becker and Parsons; cleared in substance by Dulles, in draft by Robertson, and with S/S; paragraph 2 cleared in substance by General Twining; and approved by Martin. Repeated to USUN for Lodge and to Taipei.

190. Telegram From the Embassy in Poland to the Department of State

Warsaw, October 15, 1958, 7 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/10–1558. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution. Repeated to USUN and priority to Taipei.