893.00/11–2648

Memorandum by the Secretary of State to the Under Secretary of State (Lovett)

At the Cabinet meeting this morning I outlined the situation in China, the actions of this Government from the time of the President’s Message on February 28 [18]91 down to the present time, the losses which had been sustained by the Government troops and which apparently have become available to the Communist armies, the problems specifically involved and certain recommendations.

Whether or not the President should make a statement was not decided.

The President decided that while it is extremely important that the people of the United States should be brought to understand the facts of the case in regard to China—our policy, the successive steps we have taken, the complete failures of the Chinese economically and militarily, etc.—to do this at this time would place us in the position of having administered the final blow to the Government of the Generalissimo; that we should not make such a statement at this time but that we should be prepared to do so at the appropriate moment.

The case of Madame Chiang Kai-shek’s visit to the United States92 was outlined to him and he authorized the use of the naval plane to bring her and her party to this country.

G. C. Marshall
  1. Department of State Bulletin, February 29, 1948, p. 268.
  2. For correspondence on this subject, see pp. 307 ff.