Office of the Historian

NEA Files: Lot 55–D36

The Acting Secretary of State to President Truman

Washington, November 24, 1947.

My Dear Mr. President: I enclose for your consideration and for your approval if you concur, a memorandum1 resulting from conversations with the British in regard to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.2 The National Security Council has approved this document.3 The Secretary of the Army, however, approved subject to: (a) a similar British commitment, particularly as to the military features, being simultaneously made, and (b) the policies outlined being [Page 624] first discussed, and if possible cleared, with the Chairmen of the Armed Services Committee of the House and of the Senate and with the Chairmen of the Foreign Relations Committee4 and the Foreign Affairs Committee.

With reference to (a), a similar memorandum was prepared by the British for consideration by the British Government.

I also enclose for your information a paper setting forth the comments of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the enclosed document.5

Faithfully yours,

Robert A. Lovett
  1. The American Paper, p. 575.↩
  2. President Truman expressed his approval in an undated marginal notation. According to a memorandum of March 11, 1949, by the Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs (Satterthwaite) to Secretary of State Acheson and Under Secretary of State Webb, the approval was given on November 24, 1947 (Lot 55–D36).↩
  3. In Action No. 13, November 21, 1947.↩
  4. In an attached memorandum of November 28 to Mr. Henderson, William J. Me Williams, Assistant Director of the Executive Secretariat, set forth the directive of the Acting Secretary of State that no Departmental action should be taken with respect to (b), pointing out that President Truman had indicated that he would talk to the Secretary of the Army about it. On December 2, Mr. Lovett called on Arthur H. Vandenberg, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and read to him the American and British Papers. Mr. Lovett’s memorandum of conversation stated that he “pointed out that this exchange of views, which indicated a present intent to carry out parallel policies, had deep significance, which of course he [Senator Vandenberg] at once recognized.” (890.00/12–247)↩
  5. Not printed.↩