501.BB Palestine/4–1948
The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of Defense (Forrestal)
Dear Mr. Secretary: I have received your letter of April 19 outlining certain of the possible implications, from the standpoint of United States foreign policy in other areas, of the decision of this Government to declare its readiness to undertake a share of the burden of providing the police forces required during a truce and temporary trusteeship in Palestine.
I have taken careful note of your views, and you may be sure that they will be given full consideration by this Department in any contributions that it may make to the formulation of national policy.
I think I should point out, however, that the contingency that you describe, under which this country would be required to deploy approximately 50,000 men for service in Palestine, is still not an actuality, and we cannot yet know whether, or in what form, it will materialize. In any case, it would represent a difference of degree, rather than substance, as compared with the situation which has existed heretofore. In fact, leaving the possible use of an American contingent in the” United Nations police force for Palestine out of the picture entirely, it seems clear from your letter that the forces available at present are inadequate to support fully our policies in the other areas mentioned, or elsewhere.
It has rarely been possible for us to feel that the armed establishment maintained by our Government at any particular moment would [Page 852] be adequate, without further strengthening, to support the major objectives of our foreign policy in the face of all eventualities. Very often, in the past, the sanction for the position taken by this Government in international affairs has unavoidably had to be, in large measure, the reserve military potential of this country rather than its forces in being.
The Department of State has consistently endeavored, by testimony before committees of Congress and in all appropriate ways, to advocate the strengthening of the military, naval and air forces of the United States through rapid establishment of the Selective Service System and the more long-range program for universal military training. You can be assured of the Department’s fullest cooperation in doing everything possible to accomplish the speedy passage of legislation which will put this Government in a better position to meet its many responsibilities in the realm of foreign policy, some of which, as you point out, may require the availability and possible use of armed forces.1
Sincerely yours,
- Secretary Forrestal replied the same day, his letter to the Secretary of State stating in part: “I appreciate that the contingency which I described has not yet become an actuality. My sole purpose in writing was to indicate some of the military consequences which might result in the event that the deployment of troops to Palestine should become necessary as a result of the United States proposals. In any event, I believe our thinking must take into account that this contingency does in fact exist.” (501.BB Palestine/4–2348)↩