893.50 Recovery/6–948
Memorandum by Mr. William McAfee, of the Division of Chinese Affairs, to the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Butterworth)
In response to your request I called on General Wedemeyer on the afternoon of June 8. You had informed me that General Wedemeyer while at lunch with you in the Pentagon had indicated that in his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee he would favor aid to China as instructed by General Marshall. You noted that General Wedemeyer referred to the conference between Mr. Forrestal, Mr. Royall and the Secretary as the source of this directive.
In my conversation with General Wedemeyer I stated that Mr. Sprouse and I had attended this conference and had subsequently reported on it to you, and that you therefore were aware of a discrepancy in the interpretations placed on General Marshall’s remarks by the respective Departments. In order to clarify the State Department position, I gave General Wedemeyer the following report on the conversation:
Mr. Forrestal indicated that Mr. Royall and General Wedemeyer would represent the Army at the Senate hearings and he asked if General Marshall had any comments. General Marshall said that the arrangements proposed by Mr. Forrestal were agreeable to him and he continued that he had at all times sought to avoid any action which could be interpreted as an attempt on his part to influence testimony that General Wedemeyer might be called on to make.
General Wedemeyer indicated that his interpretation of General Marshall’s statements had been based on a memorandum of conversation prepared by Secretary Royall in which the latter noted Mr. Forrestal’s comments to the effect that Mr. Royall would oppose aid to China, but that General Wedemeyer would testify in favor of aid to China. Mr. Royall’s memorandum further noted that General Marshall had indicated that he would like General Wedemeyer to do this. General Wedemeyer had interpreted the last statement as meaning that General Marshall would like him to represent the opinion favoring aid to China.
General Wedemeyer accepted the interpretation given by me as representing General Marshall’s position and he thanked me for having clarified this statement. He asked that I convey his appreciation to you.