Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1942, China

Draft of Letter From Mr. Owen Lattimore to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek ⁵⁵

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Dear Generalissimo: Several days ago I had an interview with the President in which I mentioned to him your views on certain matters as you discussed them with me just before I left China. The President asked me to draft a telegram to be approved by him and sent through Currie’s code. The following telegram has accordingly just been sent.

The President wishes me to convey to you in the most cordial and sympathetic way that he feels that there is a basic similarity, indeed a basic agreement, between the way in which he is thinking about these major problems and the way you are thinking about them. This is a great encouragement to him, because when two men are alike in their way of thinking, it is always easier to come to similar solutions, even when the problems that have to be solved are very difficult. In order to avoid any possibility of confusion when these problems, in due course of time, come to be discussed through regular channels, the President does not wish to embarrass you by seeming to commit either you or himself in advance. However, broadly speaking, this is the way in which his mind is running.⁵⁶

1. [I told the President that broadly speaking the following is the way my mind is running.]⁵⁷ Southern Pacific and Southeast Asia.

In certain colonial areas it will hardly be desirable to restore the previous regimes in full, even if that were possible. It may be possible in many instances to find a solution through a new legal application of the concept of trusteeship. Some such trusteeship might be entrusted to a single nation, others to boards of trustees composed of nationals of several nations. These boards of trustees would represent an advance over the mandate of the League of Nations because they could be used to define more clearly the importance of time and the principle of “coming of age.” This would be analogous to the principle of successive stages of self-government embodied in the American schedule for Philippine independence. The President finds [tells me]⁵⁸ that Mr. Churchill heartily welcomes [is interested in]⁵⁸ the principle of trusteeship.

2. Southern Pacific. Like you, the President is convinced [I suggested to the President]⁵⁸ that for the western Pacific from about the latitude of French Indo-China to about the latitudes of Japan, the principal major powers concerned will be China and America.⁵⁹ After this war we shall have to think of China, America, Britain and Russia as the four “big policemen” of the world. Only if they work together can they have uniformity of practice in working out a method for the periodic inspection of the armaments of all countries in order to prevent surreptitious re-armament for purposes of aggression. China and America have obvious qualifications as the most responsible powers in a large area of the western Pacific. In the northern part of the Pacific, however, where American territory approaches closely to Siberia, Korea, and Japan, it would be undesirable to attempt to exclude Russia from such problems as the independence of Korea. To isolate Soviet Russia in this area of the world would run the danger of creating tension instead of relieving tension. South of Korea the question of actual bases from which China and America might protect the peace of the western Pacific is one of those details which may well be left for later consideration. The President is much impressed by your clear view that only bases in the two key areas of Liaotung and Formosa can effectively coordinate land, sea and air power for the long term prevention of renewed aggression.⁵⁹

The President is delighted by the friendship that has sprung up between his wife and Madame Chiang and is looking forward eagerly to Madame Chiang’s visit to the White House.

In conclusion, let me add that I am leaving in a few days to take⁶⁰ up my new duties in charge of the Pacific Bureau of the Office of War Information in San Francisco. It will, therefore, be some time before I can communicate directly with you again, but I look forward to the hope that I may at some time in the future serve under you once more.

Yours very sincerely,

55. Photostatic copy obtained from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N. Y. Draft submitted to President Roosevelt with memorandum of December 18, 1942 from Lauchlin Currie, who explained that the letter when approved by the President would be signed by Owen Lattimore and carried to China by the new Naval Attaché (Lt. Col. Charles C. Brown, U. S. M. C.) “which should insure its safe and uncensored delivery.” President Roosevelt, who revised the draft, in a memorandum of December 22 asked his Military Aide, General Watson, to arrange for Mr. Lattimore to see him on December 23 or 24, when the draft letter should be available.
56. This sentence deleted by President Roosevelt.
57. Bracketed sentence inserted by President Roosevelt.
58. Bracketed revision by President Roosevelt.
58. Bracketed revision by President Roosevelt.
58. Bracketed revision by President Roosevelt.
59. This sentence deleted by President Roosevelt.
59. This sentence deleted by President Roosevelt.
60. The words “am leaving in a few days to take” were revised by Lauchlin Currie to read “have taken.”