794A.00/10–1450
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Rusk)
Subject: Formosa
| Participants: | General of the Army Douglas MacArthur |
| Mr. W. Averell Harriman | |
| Mr. Dean Rusk |
In a private conversation among the three of us following the larger conference with the President, Mr. Harriman asked General [Page 534] MacArthur whether the subject of Formosa had come up in the President’s private talk with General MacArthur at breakfast.
General MacArthur said: “Yes. I told the President that I had supposed that my letter to the Veterans of Foreign Wars had been right down the line of the President’s policy. Had I not thought so, I would not have sent it. The President said that he considered that a closed issue. I told him that I also considered it as closed.”
The above quotation is almost exact but may vary by a few words. The meaning is accurate.
This memorandum was checked with Mr. Harriman.