Office of the Historian

795.00/3–2351: Circular telegram

The Secretary of State to Certain Diplomatic Offices 1

secret
Washington, March 23, 1951—midnight.

567. There is being sent by immediately following tel text of statement made by Gen MacArthur today.2

[Page 265]

This statement was not authorized, expected or representative of the views of this Govt. However under no circumstances must this be disclosed or intimated in any manner. All inquiries should be referred to Wash.3

Acheson
  1. Sent to Ankara, Athens, Bangkok, Brussels, Canberra, The Hague, London, Luxembourg, Manila, Ottawa, Paris, Pretoria, and Wellington.↩
  2. See circular telegram 568, March 24, infra.↩
  3. Mr. Acheson has indicated that the text of General MacArthur’s statement was brought to him at 11 p. m. on March 23 by Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Lovett and Messrs. Rusk, Johnson, and Battle of the State Department and that the MacArthur statement was discussed by them until 1 a. m. on March 24 (Acheson, Present at the Creation, pp. 518–519). No record of this meeting has been found in the Department of State files.↩