Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V, Part 2

Editorial Note

Secretary Forrestal noted in a dairy entry for February 18 that Major General Alfred M. Gruenther of the Joint Chiefs of Staff reported to a meeting of State and Defense officials with President Truman at the White House that day on the serious limitations of American military manpower. He estimated that forcible application of the partition resolution would entail a minimum of 80,000 and a maximum of 160,000 troops.

Secretary Forrestal had discussed the Palestine problem with General Gruenther on January 24. The entry in Forrestal’s diary reads as follows:

“General Gruenther said that the strategic planning of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had been substantially altered by the Palestine decision. That it had pretty well ‘spiked’ any consideration of any military operations in the Middle East and had pretty well disposed of the idea that the United States would continue to have access to the Middle East Oil.” (Forrestal Papers)