795.00/8—2852
Memorandum by the Assistant Officer in Charge of Public Affairs, Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs (Harris)1 to the Director of the Office of Northeast Asian Affairs (Young)
Subject:
- Deptel 206 August 27 to Moscow (Kennan from Matthews)2
The essence of the face-saving device to permit the Commies to accept a Korean armistice proposed in the reference telegram—that we offer the Communists a cease-fire now on the basis of an exchange of all the UN prisoners in their hands for the 83,000 repatriates whom we hold with the question of the non-repatriates in our custody to be discussed later—seems to me worthy of serious consideration. Obviously the question is one for high-level decision. From the propaganda standpoint, I offer the following comment.
I am of the opinion that there is at least one very serious objection to the method of publicizing the scheme proposed in the telegram. For the President to make the proposal in a public announcement, tying it specifically to Hallinan, Daily Worker and Moscow initiative for “cease-fire now”, would be to lend the full weight of presidential prestige to the impression that the Commies had led the way in finding a peaceful solution in Korea. I recall the free ride on the peace band wagon which the Soviets got as a result of Malik’s statement last year which the Commies were able to represent as having led to the armistice negotiations.
I suggest that the proper channel for any proposals of the kind under consideration is our armistice delegation at Panmunjom. If the proposal [Page 466] is approved, it should be offered at Panmunjom as coming from us on our own initiative and without any reference to the apparent Commie propaganda feelers in this direction of the last week.
I do not believe that the likelihood of Communist acceptance of such a proposal would be in any way enhanced by its having been offered publicly by the President rather than by our negotiators at Panmunjom. I do think that the offer by the President would give the Commies an excellent propaganda opportunity to represent themselves before the world as the real protagonists of peace.