Harry S. Truman Library, PSF–General File
Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense (Johnson)1
The three Secretaries and the Joint Chiefs of Staff submit the following to you in connection with the current arrangements for the carrying out of the North Atlantic Treaty.
(1) The North Atlantic Treaty affirmed the policy of the United States that the defense of the Atlantic area including Western Europe is a vital part of the defense of the United States. The successful carrying out of the North Atlantic Treaty is essential to the defense of the United States and to the fulfillment of the U.S. world leadership.
We believe that the implementation of this policy is as important as the policy itself. Unless the implicit promises which the North Atlantic Treaty holds out to the European peoples are in fact realized the disappointment of the Europeans and the consequent disintegration of the Atlantic community will result.
At the present time General Bradley, acting with the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is working with the NATO countries on a revision of the NATO Medium Term Defense Plan which provides for the participation by the United States in the Atlantic military force and for the contributions which the other NATO countries will make to this force. This revised Medium Term Defense Plan will require, according to agreed decisions of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, an increase in the size of the United States military establishment as well as an increase in that of most of the other NATO countries. NATO is now preparing an estimate of the forces required and the contributions to be made by each participating country.
Most of the NATO countries find themselves in the position where the charges on their budget which will result from carrying out the Medium Term Plan will be most difficult to bear.
(2) The creation of the forces necessary to make the NATO Medium Term Plan effective, will add materially to the security of the United States. It seems necessary and just therefore that the United States should bear not only the increased cost in its own military establishment but also should aid in closing in the gap between what the other NATO countries will be required to do and what they will be able to do. This then would bring an increase in American military expenditures of these two types.
[Page 134]Similarly in other critical areas, such as Greece–Turkey–Iran and the Western Pacific, it is necessary that the forces necessary to our security be maintained.
It is regrettable that at this time, in addition to the increased expenditures resulting from the Korean war, the American taxpayer should be required to bear an additional burden. On the other hand, we are already bearing a part of this burden in the cost of our own military establishment and our expenditures under MDAP and under the European Recovery Program.
We believe that the principle should be accepted that the United States take on this additional commitment as a part of its own defense and of the Western society of which it is a part. However the undertaking of this additional responsibility should be conditional upon the other NATO countries doing their full share and of satisfying the United States that they are doing their full share. This is not to say that the United States should dictate what they shall do; it is only to say that the United States has the right to specify the conditions upon which it will make its own contributions to NATO.
In the present critical situation encouragement should be given to the countries concerned as to our intention to see that the North Atlantic Treaty and our equivalent commitments in other regions are made realistically effective. An appropriate announcement in the near future would be well timed and exceedingly valuable.
-
Frank Pace, Jr.
Secretary of the Army -
Francis P. Matthews
Secretary of the Navy -
Thomas Finletter
Secretary of the Air Force -
Omar N. Bradley
Chairman, The Joint Chiefs of Staff -
Lauris Norstad
Acting Chief of Staff, USAF -
Wade H. Haislip
Acting Chief of Staff, USA -
Forrest Sherman
Chief of Naval Operations
- Attached to the source text was a memorandum from Johnson to President Truman, dated July 14, which stated that he approved the statements made in this memorandum and urged their favorable consideration.↩