310.2/6–553
Memorandum by the President to the Secretary of State 1
As you have probably been told, we had a conference this morning with the Congressional leaders on the amendment added by the Senate Appropriations Committee to the bill for the support of the United Nations. It was agreed that the Senate leaders would remove this particular amendment, but that the Administration would seek assurances from our allies, through diplomatic channels, that those allies would not use a Korean truce as an excuse for urging the acceptance of Red China in the United Nations. I stated that I would make it perfectly clear in these representations that the Congress of the United States would be badly shaken by any such development; that the temper of the Congress was such that any determined attempt on the part of our allies of this kind could have the most unfortunate results.
I further stated that so long as Red China was constituted on its present basis, under its present leaders, and so obviously serving the ends of Soviet Russia, that I would never be a party to its recognition and its acceptance in the United Nations.
- Source text attached to memorandum of June 5 by Roderic L. O’Connor, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State, to Livingston T. Merchant, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs. In forwarding this text, O’Connor informed Merchant that it was a copy of a “part of a memorandum from the President to the Secretary dated June 2.… The Secretary has since assured the President that we are proceeding to seek such assurances”, as requested by the President. O’Connor said further: “The Secretary has requested that you draft messages to whatever countries you think appropriate, coordinating with Messrs. Hickerson and Robertson, and present them for his signature.” (310.2/6–553)↩