Eisenhower Library, Dulles papers, Korea file, box 54
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State1
Upon receipt of a telegram from Rhee, indicating the truce signing was imminent, the Secretary telephoned the President and read to him a copy of the message.2
The President said that with regard to the first point the answer was yes as long as we ourselves know it was a clear case of aggression. The Secretary said, in connection with this point that in the case of all treaties, for instance the North Atlantic Treaty, our action must be taken through constitutional processes. The President said, of course, he understood that we had to say that. The Secretary said that actually the provision in the so-called “Greater Sanctions Agreement” does not contain that qualification.
The Secretary said that Rhee’s saying he hadn’t been informed was inaccurate. In connection with point 2—the question of giving moral and material support—we have to maintain freedom of action. The President said that to set an arbitrary or fixed limit on the number of days it would take to get anything done would be foolish. The Secretary said we could not make an advance commitment without Congressional action. He added that it appeared to him as if Rhee at the last minute was trying to run out on his commitment to us.
The President said we should say in reply that we were astonished at the questions he brought up in view of a number of developments and quote his letter. This is what we can do and beyond that we cannot constitutionally go.
The President said that he was planning to go to Quantico to the Defense gathering,3 but that if something demanded his presence here, he would cancel that. He said that before he left for Quantico, he would telephone the Secretary to see what the situation was.