811.3393/10–1948
Memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State to the Director of the Joint Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( Gruenther )
Reference is made to your note of October 19,35 informing me that the Secretary of Defense has referred the President’s memorandum of October 18, 194836 regarding United States Naval Forces at Tsingtao and aid to north China to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for comment and recommendation. You offer to bring to the attention of the Joint Chiefs of Staff any views which I may have regarding this subject.
The National Security Council has before it for consideration at its next meeting a letter37 containing the views of the Department of State regarding the presence of United States Naval Forces at Tsingtao. Although this letter, a copy of which is attached, was written before I had received a copy of the President’s memorandum, I have since reviewed it and believe that the views expressed therein are consonant with the President’s suggestion.
I have noted that the President suggests “that the withdrawal from Tsingtao not take place at this time” and would assume that the directive from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Admiral Badger set forth in telegram 83805 of June 14, 194838 does not conflict therewith, since the latter is for the guidance of Admiral Badger only in the event that at some future date the Communists launch an attack upon Tsingtao.
The Secretary of State’s letter of August 1339 and my letter of October 13 [15], 1948,40 to Secretary Forrestal, bespeak this Department’s keen interest in expediting aid to north China.