811.91293/8–145
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Grew) to the Secretary of State
In a telegram No. 1265 dated August 1, 10 a.m. (copy attached) Ambassador Hurley made the following suggestions:
- (1)
- That he be authorized to invite Henry Luce, publisher of Time and Life magazines to visit China;
- (2)
- That word be sent Mr. Luce, in the event that you did not consider an invitation from Ambassador Hurley appropriate, indicating that there would be no objection to Mr. Luce’s visiting China; and
- (3)
- That permission be given to publishers of various shades of opinion to come to China.
Ambassador Hurley requested that his telegram be sent on to you but in view of the fact that you were about to leave Potsdam and as he had not made clear his reasons for considering the matter urgent I sent him a telegram No. 117782 (copy attached) stating that I should bring his telegram to your attention immediately upon your return to Washington.
In connection with Ambassador Hurley’s desire to invite Mr. Luce to China there is certain background information which I believe you would like to have before reaching a decision.
Mrs. Shipley, the Chief of the Passport Division, has pointed out that authority to grant permission for editors and publishers to travel abroad had been made a White House responsibility by President Roosevelt early in the war. The revision of this procedure in regard to the Pacific area was being considered at the time of President Roosevelt’s death. Subsequently President Truman authorized the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal, to invite editors and publishers to travel in the Pacific area provided they went in groups or were suitably paired and also provided the White House was kept informed. Mr. Luce made one trip to the Pacific area but was paired with another editor so that the reports of each one could be checked against those of the other in the event that either of them should give a biased picture of what he had seen.
In view of the fact that the directive to Mrs. Shipley from the White House has not been modified it would be necessary to seek either authorization from the White House for the issuance of a passport to Mr. Luce or a general change in the previous directive. If we are prepared to recommend the latter course the outcome would, of course, be dependent upon the decision of the President. If, on the other hand, there is to be no such recommendation the question arises as to [Page 148] whether the Department should take the initiative in order to obtain authorization from the White House for the issuance of a passport in the individual case of Mr. Luce. If the Department does take the initiative the Department lays itself open to the charge of discrimination unless it is prepared to make the same request for other publishers.
Provided transportation facilities and military clearance are readily available to Mr. Luce and to other prominent American publishers and the President has no objection to the issuance of passports to them, the Department would favor visits to China in the interest of furthering mutual understanding between the Chinese and American people. However, even apart from the question of the appropriateness of a representative of this Government inviting an American publisher to visit a second country, it would seem wiser as a general rule that such invitations not be issued and thus any charges of discrimination would be avoided.
From the foregoing it is clear that none of the questions raised in Ambassador Hurley’s telegram can be answered until the situation concerning special authorization from the White House for publishers to travel in war areas has been clarified.
- August 2, 3 p.m., not printed.↩