Forrestal Papers
Diary Entry for March 29, 1948, by the Secretary of Defense (Forrestal)
Conversation With the President and Under Secretary Lovett re Palestine Trusteeship
Under Secretary Lovett called up this afternoon to say that the State Department anticipated that in connection with the United Nations debate on Palestine tomorrow and the United States proposal for a trusteeship under British-French-American Mandate, the question might be asked of Austin whether the United States was ready to bear its share of the police forces required to produce peace in Palestine under such an arrangement. I said that at the moment we did not have such forces available and that I did not see how we could escape making an effort to contribute.
I then talked to The President who said he did not want to make any firm commitment to send troops into Palestine, but I told him what Lovett’s problem was and that he was simply trying to get something affirmative for Senator Austin to say in case he was cornered. The President then said that he felt that if we had to respond that we would participate in the implementation of the trusteeship mandate by the associated allied nations (UK, US and France) up to the limit of our ability. I then called Mr. Lovett and reported my conversation with The President and suggested to him that he write out the precise language which he proposed to have Senator Austin use and send it to the White House so there would be no possibility of a misunderstanding. He said that that was what he was in the process of doing.