Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Korea and China, Volume VII, Part 1

795.00/12–551

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

top secret

[Washington,] December 5, 1951.¹

Subject: Meeting with JCS on Korea

Participants:	JCS:	General Bradley
		General Vandenberg
		Admiral Fechteler
		General Hull
		General Cabell2
	State:	Mr. Matthews, G
		Mr. Bohlen, C
		Mr. Nitze, S/P
		Mr. Ferguson, S/P
		Mr. Bonbright, EUR
		Mr. Johnson, FE

A meeting with the JCS was held this morning to discuss a directive to General Ridgway on the handling of the prisoner-of-war problem in the armistice negotiations. Discussion was held on the basis of JCS draft directive³ and State suggestions for revisions therein contained in State’s letter of December 4, 1951, to the Secretary of Defense, and JCS memo of December 3, 1951, to the Secretary of Defense.

The discussions revolved principally around the questions of forced versus voluntary repatriation, one-for-one versus all-for-all exchange, and return of UN and ROK civilians held by the Communists.⁴ It was decided that General Cabell and Mr. Johnson would prepare a revised draft directive on the basis of the previous State and JCS drafts and the discussion in the meeting.

There was also discussion of the Communist proposal for a neutral organ to supervise the armistice outside the demilitarized zone and the relationship to that organ of the Military Armistice Commission.

There ensued a long discussion of the “greater sanction” concept, the present stage of discussions of the subject with the UK, and the relationship of the “greater sanction” principle to the safeguards for the UN forces that would be required in any armistice agreement. It was the general conclusion that if the UK would join us in a “greater sanction” statement, the requirements for the safety of UN forces could be modified. However, as such agreement had not yet been achieved, it was premature to modify those requirements, but at the same time Ridgway should be instructed not to take “final” positions until a decision was reached on the statement. After some discussion of a draft directive to General Ridgway on the subject, it was agreed that General Hull and Mr. Johnson would prepare a new draft to be circulated during the day. This draft was subsequently approved and dispatched as JCS 88877, December 5, 1951,⁵ and JCS 89114, December 7, 1951,⁶ was transmitted to the President for his approval.

[Note: Draft directive on prisoners of war mentioned above, prepared by General Cabell and Mr. Johnson, was subsequently approved by State and Defense and dispatched to the President by JCS 89090, December 7.⁷ Following the receipt of the President’s comments on December 8, the first sentence of paragraph 1H was amended to meet the President’s views; dispatched to General Ridgway as JCS 89172, December 10, 1951.]⁸

1. Although dated December 5, the day on which this State–JCS meeting took place, the information contained at the end of the memorandum indicates that it must have been prepared, or added to, after that date. The source text shows no drafting date.
2. Maj. Gen. Charles P. Cabell, Director of the Joint Staff, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
3. See the subenclosure to the November 23 letter from Mr. Foster, p. 1170.

4. The Department of State draft memorandum on the substance of discussions at this State–JCS meeting read as follows at the beginning of the discussion on the prisoners of war question:

   “Mr. Matthews: The President has a strong personal interest in the prisoners of war problem. He does not believe that it would be equitable to exchange prisoners on an all-for-all basis. It is clear that if all of the prisoners in our hands are returned some of them will be promptly done away with by the Communist authorities.

   “General Bradley: I have also been informed by the President that he wants any directive on POW’s cleared with him. It looked to the President as though there had been some fuzzy thinking on this problem.” (S/P Files: Lot 64D563, Box 728)

5. Post, p. 1247.
6. Post, p. 1278.
7. Post, p. 1276.
8. Not printed, but see editorial note, p. 1296. Brackets in the source text.