Forrestal Papers
Diary Entry for October 21, 1948, by the Secretary of Defense (Forrestal)
National Security Council
Mr. Forrestal referred to the State Department request for four to six thousand troops to be used as guard forces in Jerusalem in implementation of the Bernadotte Plan for Palestine. This unexpected request was an example of how the Palestine situation had drifted without any clear Consequent formulation of United States policy by the NSC. Mr. Forrestal said that actually our Palestine policy had been made for “squalid political purposes” and had been largely the work of David Niles and Clark Clifford. He said that he had no objection to the Jews establishing a homeland in Palestine, but that United States policy should be based on United States national interests and not on domestic political considerations.
He hoped that some day he would be able to make his position on this issue clear.