Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, The Far East and Australasia, Volume VI

740.00119 Control (Japan)/12–2048

Memorandum by the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Butterworth) to the Under Secretary of State (Lovett)

top secret

[Washington,] December 20, 1948.

Pursuant to circular instruction of October 7 requiring offices of the Department designated as action offices for the implementation of National Security Council papers to submit to you each 30 days a summary of action taken, I wish to report the following action on NSC 13/2, “Recommendations with Respect to U.S. Policy Toward Japan”, during the period from November 19, when the last summary was submitted,¹ to December 19.

1. On November 30 and December 1 two telegrams prepared by the Departments of State and Army were sent to General MacArthur as CINCFE: (1) directing him to advise the Japanese Government informally of the policy decision of paragraph 13 of NSC 13/2, and requesting his comments on a number of specific, proposed modifications in the purge, and (2) directing him to implement the policy decisions of NSC 13/2 within his field of responsibility and requesting initial statements of his programs and schedules of implementation of paragraphs 3, 7, 8, 13, 14, 17a and 17c, to be followed by separate periodic reports of progress.

General MacArthur replied on December 4 that he was not empowered as CINCFE to alter policies on such matters as the purge carried out in his capacity as SCAP pursuant to Allied directives, and that he strongly opposed any major modification of the purge, except in the unlikely event that the Far Eastern Commission in a policy decision directed such modification. General MacArthur’s response to the request for separate statements of his programs and schedules of implementation was in general to the effect that the policies therein set forth either had long been in effect or that reference should be made to a wire which he had sent last June offering his views on earlier drafts of these paragraphs sent him for comment.

The Department of State agreed with the Department of the Army on December 17 to the dispatch of a separate message to General MacArthur on the subject of desired reports with the understanding that all the other points raised by General MacArthur would be the subject of a subsequent radio to be dispatched at the earliest possible date.

A full reply to General MacArthur is under active discussion between the Departments of State and Army.

2. On November 22 a radio was sent to CINCFE (WAR 92991) referring to paragraph 7 of NSC 13/2 and setting forth the principles which the Departments of State and Army considered basic to an effective Japanese internal security system.

3. Pursuant to paragraph 17b of NSC 13/2, the Acting Secretary of State wrote to the Secretary of the Army on November 22 requesting the assistance of the Army Signal Corps in making a survey to determine the suitability of Okinawa or some other nearby location as a site for a medium- or long-wave relay station … and the Army Signal Corps is now drafting a directive to the field on the subject.

4. On December 2 the Acting Secretary wrote to Secretaries Forrestal and Sullivan requesting that the National Military Establishment and the Department of the Navy, respectively assume responsibility for implementation of paragraph 5 (“The Ryukyu, Nanpo and Marcus Islands”) and paragraph 6 (“Naval Bases”) of NSC 13/2. The Acting Secretary on December 17 confirmed Secretary Forrestal’s understanding, expressed in the latter’s reply of December 9, that the responsibility for paragraph 5 of the National Military Establishment did not extend to the last sentence of the paragraph regarding the securing of international sanction for U.S. long-term control of the subject territories. Secretary Forrestal was requested to confirm the belief that there also had been assigned within the National Military Establishment responsibility for the determination of those facilities, other than on Okinawa, which might be required and for the development of the base on Okinawa. Such confirmation has now been received.

5. On December 17 the Acting Secretary wrote to the Secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Director of the Budget, enclosing copies of pertinent paragraphs of NSC 13/2 for their information and guidance.

6. A review of all policy papers now before the Far Eastern Commission and its Committees has been initiated within the Department of State with a view to bringing U.S. policies toward the FEC into harmony with the provisions of paragraph 9 of NSC 13/2.

1. Not printed.