711.00/11–848: Telegram
The Secretary of State in Paris to the Acting Secretary of State
urgent
Martel 116. Personal and eyes only for Lovett from Marshall. My immediately following message1 contains proposed reply to Forrestal’s budget letter.2 If it meets with your approval, please see that he gets it. I agree with the views expressed in your memorandum to me,3 but am not disposed to make a particular point with Forrestal as to existence of an objective world situation independent of our own policies, or as to my responsibilities for analyzing the world situation for military budget purposes.
[Page 655]Last spring when Forrestal, Snyder, and I talked to the President, the discussion was designed to give some semblance of order (some attempt to recoup our lost military stature), to the dilemma we found ourselves in without even a token military establishment in being. You will recall that UMT was the keystone of this effort. I told Forrestal then that he should plan on building his forces within a balanced national economy, and that the country could not, and would not, support a budget based on preparation for war. This view still holds. It has nothing to do with the international situation as such—it is designed to get the most security without putting the nation on a war-time footing.