Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1945, European Advisory Commission, Austria, Germany, Volume III

740.00119 Control (Germany)/12–2745

Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs (Benton⁹²

[Washington,] December 27, 1945.

Judge Patterson did most of the talking at me at lunch today. He seems to feel strongly that the State Department should take the responsibility in the occupied areas, notably Germany. However, he agreed with my theory that the responsibility needs to be decentralized—and cannot be successfully carried by a department or bureau operating here in Washington. The problem, as Byron Price points out in his report,⁹³ is to choose top personnel for the civilian administration (with which he says President Truman is in emphatic agreement)—and then give power and responsibility to such men, to make decisions and operate in the field. The group working here in Washington would be merely a liaison group, a kind of service organization helping to procure personnel, and in other ways trying to be of assistance under direction and instruction received from the men responsible in Germany. Patterson said he doubted if over fifty men, or at most a hundred, would be required in this central group here in Washington. He suggested that General Hilldring be converted to civilian status, stating that he had a heart condition, and could easily be retired by the Army.

I told Judge Patterson that it was my understanding that Secretary Byrnes did not want this responsibility centered in the State Department. If operating responsibility is sharply decentralized, I asked him whether the key issues didn’t boil down to the selection of the high civilian commissioner, and his principal aides (whom Byron Price recommended should have the same status as Under Secretaries)—and the decision as to whether the high commissioner reports to Secretary Byrnes or to Secretary Patterson.

Patterson contends that the Bureau of Insular Affairs was shifted out of the War Department because it is impossible in the War Department to get civilian administration of the kind that is required.

I do not think that his views were changed particularly by our luncheon, but I am sure that the issue involved in decentralization of authority, into the hands of people in the field, was very much clarified in his mind. I am sure that this is the sound administrative setup. He came back a couple of times to the question, “Who can we find for high commissioner?”

I told him about the particular question involved with the Bureau of the Budget, on the $5,000,000 we are budgeting for information control work in Germany. He insisted that this was sound procedure even if the War Department continued to carry the responsibility. He stated that it was customary among Government departments to assign or delegate people, along similar lines. I told him that I did not think this was consistent, in as much as we do not have any budget set up for Japan, and are merely budgeting for Germany because of our inheritance through the OWI⁹⁴ I told him that, if he and Secretary Byrnes and President Truman subsequently decide that the responsibility should be his, for the appointment and control of top civilian personnel in Germany, then I agreed with Don Russell that this budget should be transferred to the War Department. However, if Secretary Byrnes takes the responsibility, of course, we should carry the budget and be responsible for personnel.

[The remainder of this memorandum dealt briefly with occupation problems in Japan.]⁹⁵

William Benton

92. Addressed to Under Secretary of State Acheson and Assistant Secretary of State Russell.
93. Byron Price, the former U.S. Director of Censorship, visited Germany as President Truman’s personal representative to survey the relationship between the U.S. forces of occupation and the German population. See the “Report of Byron Price to the President,” November 9, 1945, Department of State Bulletin, December 2, 1945, pp. 885–892.
94. The Office of War Information was terminated by Executive Order August 31, 1945. Its Overseas Operations Branch was transferred to the Interim International Information Service of the State Department.
95. For documentation on this subject, see vol. vi, section entitled “Surrender of Japan …”, part II.