Office of the Historian

795.00/2–1451

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Rusk)

secret
[Washington,] February 15, 1951.

Subject: The 38th Parallel

Participants: Mr. Hubert Graves–British Embassy
Dean Rusk–Assistant Secretary of State

Mr. Graves handed me the attached message from Mr. Bevin to Sir Oliver Franks.1

In addition to the written message, Mr. Graves said that he wished [Page 178] to pass along the following point orally on which he would appreciate a reply: “The Cabinet agreed also that the U.S. Government should be asked formally to confirm that UN forces would not advance beyond the 38th parallel without a fresh political decision taken not by the U.S. Government alone but by the United Nations.”2

I told Mr. Graves that I supposed London would like a brief reply in writing and he replied in the affirmative. It was tentatively agreed that the reply might take the form of a letter from the Secretary to Sir Oliver Franks.3

  1. Dated February 14; not printed. In it, Bevin said that the British Cabinet had now endorsed the view that the U.N. forces should not cross the 38th parallel on a major scale, although the restriction could not be absolute, and room must be allowed for tactical land and air strikes north of the line.↩
  2. On February 14, at a news conference, Mr. Acheson had declined to comment on U.S. policy toward crossing the 38th parallel, saying that he would not speak on questions which might embarrass the U.N. military operation or in any way contribute to the success of the enemy (Department of State Memorandum of the Secretary’s Press and Radio Conference). On the following day, President Truman likewise indicated that the 38th parallel was a military matter in which he would not interfere, adding that crossing the line was a point of strategy for the Commander in Chief in the Far East to decide (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1951, pp. 154–155).↩
  3. A reply for Mr. Acheson to send to Ambassador Franks was drafted on February 28, but was not sent, presumably in view of the fact that U.S. views on the 38th parallel, as set forth in telegram 719, infra, had been already adequately conveyed to the British Embassy (Lot File 56D424: U. Alexis Johnson Files).↩