List of Sources
The Korean war represented one of the major foreign policy crises of the 1950’s. Policy toward Korea involved Presidents Truman and Eisenhower and their advisers as well as executive agencies beyond the Department of State. Consequently the editors have made extensive use of appropriate files outside the Department of State in order to make the record as complete as possible. The papers printed in this volume were drawn from the following files and collections of official and private papers.
Part A. Unpublished Sources
Department of State
- 1.
- Indexed Central Files. Papers in the indexed central files of the Department for the years 1952-1954 are indicated by a decimal file number in the headnote.
- 2.
- “Lot Files.” Documents from the central files have been supplemented by lot files of the Department of State, which are decentralized files of operating areas. A list of the lot files used in this volume follows:
Conference Files, Lot 59 D 95
Collection of documentation on certain official visits of heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States and on major international conferences attended by the Secretary of State for the period 1949-1955, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
Conference Files, Lot 60 D 627
Collection of documentation on certain official visits of heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States and on major international conferences attended by the Secretary of State for the period 1953-1958, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
FE Files, Lot 55 D 128
Top secret files of the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs concerning the Korean war and ceasefire for the years 1950-1952.
FE Files, Lot 55 D 388
Files maintained by the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs for 1953.
FE Files, Lot 55 D 480
Files maintained by the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs for 1954, including documentation on the Geneva Conference, Southeast Asia, and the Korean Black Book.
FE Files, Lot 60 D 330
Files on relations with Japan and Korea for the years 1950-1953, as maintained by the Office of Northeast Asian Affairs of the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs.
[Page XXVI]Matthews Files, Lot 53 D 413
Collection of cables relating to the Korean armistice, 1951-1953, maintained in the Office of Deputy Under Secretary of State H. Freeman Matthews.
INR-NIE Files
Files maintained by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
IO Files
Master files of the Reference and Documents Section of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs of the Department of State, comprising the official UN documentation and classified Department of State records on United States policy in the UN Security Council, Trusteeship Council, Economic and Social Council, and various special and ad hoc committees for the period from 1946 to date.
IO Files, Lot 71 D 440
Master files of classified records and correspondence of United States Delegations to sessions of the UN General Assembly for the years 1945-1965, maintained by the Bureau of International Organization Affairs.
OCB Files, Lot 62 D 430
Master files of the Operations Coordinating Board for the years 1953-1960, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
PPS Files, Lot 64 D 563
Master file for the years 1947-1953 of the Policy Planning Staff, comprising memoranda and related correspondence.
Secretary’s Daily Meetings, Lot 58 D 609
Chronological collection of the records of the Secretary of State’s daily meetings with top Department of State officials during the years 1949-1952, as maintained by the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State.
Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation, Lot 64 D 199
Chronological collections of the Secretary of State’s memoranda of conversation and the Under Secretary of State’s memoranda of conversation for the years 1953-1960, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation, Lot 65 D 238
Chronological collections of the Secretary of State’s memoranda of conversation with the President for the years 1949-1952, memoranda of the Secretary of State and Under Secretary of State for the years 1951-1952, and the Secretary of State’s memoranda of conversation with Senator Tom Connally of Texas for the years 1950-1951, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
Secretary’s Staff Meetings, Lot 63 D 75
Chronological collections of the minutes of the Secretary of State’s daily staff meetings which were held twice a week during the years 1952-1960, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
S/P-NSC Files, Lot 61 D 167
Serial file of memoranda relating to National Security Council questions for the years 1950-1961, as maintained by the Policy Planning Staff.
[Page XXVII]S/S-NSC Files, Lot 63 D 351
Serial master file of National Security Council documents and correspondence and related Department of State memoranda for the years 1947-1961, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
S/S-NSC (Miscellaneous) Files, Lot 66 D 95
Administrative and miscellaneous National Security Council documentation, including NSC Records of Action, for the years 1947-1963, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
State-JCS Meetings, Lot 61 D 417
Top secret records of meetings between the Joint Chiefs of Staff and representatives of the Department of State for the period 1951-1959, and selected problem files on the Middle East for the period 1954-1956, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
Note: Because of the heavy involvement of the Department of Defense and the military services in Korean policy and implementation of that policy, special mention must be made of the numerous Department of Defense telegrams and related documentation available in the files of the Department of State. For 1952, telegrams related to Korea are contained in binders in the central files under the basic Korean decimal number. Additional copies as well as new materials for 1952 are located in FE Files, Lot 55 D 128, the so-called “Korean Black Book” of documentation relating to the Panmunjom negotiations. The Matthews Files, Lot 53 D 413, represent the best source for military telegrams for 1953 and include also a backup for the previous year. The 1954 military cables on Korea in Department of State files are both fewer in number and less important than in the two previous years; they are located in FE Files, Lot 55 D 480. Lastly, Lot 55 D 388, while not a source of many military cables, does contain a few for 1953 which were considered most important and were therefore closely held at the time.
United states Mission to the United Nations, NewYork
USUN Files
Files of the United States Mission to the United Nations, 1950 to date.
Archives-Museum, The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina
Mark W. Clark Collection
Papers of General Mark W. Clark, Commander in Chief, United Nations Command, and Commander in Chief, Far East.
Department of Defense
Department of Defense Files
Documents specifically requested by the editors from the Department of Defense.
JCS Files
Documents specifically requested by the editors from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
[Page XXVIII]Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
Dulles Papers
Papers of John Foster Dulles as Secretary of State, 1953-1959 (some 1952 material included).
James C. Hagerty Papers
Papers of the Press Secretary to the President for the years 1953-1961.
C. D. Jackson Records
Records of C. D. Jackson, 1953-1956. Jackson was the President’s Special Assistant for International Affairs, 1953-1954; and speechwriter and consultant to the President, 1958.
Whitman File
Papers of Dwight D. Eisenhower as President of the United States, 1953-1961, maintained by his personal Secretary, Ann C. Whitman. The Whitman File includes the following elements: the Name Series, the Dulles-Herter Series, Eisenhower Diaries, Ann Whitman (ACW) Diaries, National Security Council Records, Miscellaneous Records, Cabinet Papers, Legislative Meetings, International Meetings, the Administration Series, and the International File.
National Archives, Washington, D.C.
JCS Records
National Archives Record Group 218, Records of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Princeton University Library, Princeton, New Jersey
Dulles Papers, Dulles Appointment Book
Daily log of Secretary of State Dulles’ meetings and appointments for the years 1953-1959.
Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri
Acheson Papers
Papers of Dean Acheson as Secretary of State, 1949-1953.
Truman Papers, President’s Secretary’s Files (PSF)
This collection contains the papers of Harry S. Truman as President of the United States. Records relating to Korea are included with the National Security material in the subject file, in a documentary collection compiled by the Departments of State and Defense and given to Truman just before he left Office, and in intelligence-related papers.
Truman Papers, White House Central Files, Confidential File
Papers of Harry S. Truman as President of the United States contained in the classified portion of the White House Central Files.
[Page XXIX]Part B. Published Sources
The following publications, including secondary accounts, were particularly useful in the preparation of this volume. No responsibility is taken by the Department of State for the truth or accuracy of events set forth in unofficial sources.
Dean Acheson, Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department (New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1969).
Dean Acheson, Sketches From Life of Men I Have Known (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1959).
Charles E. Bohlen, Witness to History, 1929-1962 (New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1973).
Mark W. Clark, From the Danube to the Yalu (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1954).
Dwight D. Eisenhower, The White House Years, Mandate for Change, 1953-1956 (Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, 1963).
Allan E. Goodman, ed., Negotiating While Fighting: The Diary of Admiral C. Turner Joy at the Korean Armistice Conference (Stanford, Hoover Institution Press, 1978).
Gregory Henderson, Korea, the Politics of the Vortex (Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1968).
Walter G. Hermes, United States Army in the Korean War, Truce Tent and Fighting Front (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1966).
C. Turner Joy, How the Communists Negotiate (New York, MacMillan & Company, 1955).
John A. Munro and Alex I. Inglis, eds., Mike, The Memoirs of the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson, vol. II (New York, Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company, 1973).
Robert Murphy, Diplomat Among Warriors (London, Collins, 1964).
David Rees, Korea: The Limited War (New York, St. Martins Press, 1964).
Matthew B. Ridgway, The Korean War (Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, 1967).
Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, Years of Trial and Hope, vol. II (Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, 1956).
United Nations, Reports of the United Nations Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea, 1951-1954 (UN documents A/1881, A/2187, A/2441, A/2711).
United States Department of State, American Foreign Policy, 1950-1955: Basic Documents, vol. II (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1957).
United States Department of State, Bulletin, 1952-1954.
United States President, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1952-1953 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1966).
United States President, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1960).
William H. Vatcher, Jr., Panmunjom (New York, Frederick A. Praeger, 1958).