172. Diary Entry by the President1
Lately there has been a very definite feeling among the members of the Cabinet, often openly expressed, that within a month we will actually be fighting in the Formosa straits. It is, of course, entirely possible that this is true, because the Red Chinese appear to be completely reckless, arrogant, possibly over-confident, and completely indifferent as to human losses.
Nevertheless, I believe hostilities are not so imminent as is indicated by the forebodings of a number of my associates. It is clear that this gloomy outlook has been communicated to others because a number of articles in the papers state that the Administration is rather expecting hostilities within a month.
I have so often been through these periods of strain that I have become accustomed to the fact that most of the calamities that we anticipate really never occur. No period was more illustrative of this truth than the six months following upon the outbreak of our war in 1941. Every prophet in those days was one of gloom. Only two or [Page 406] three of the eventualities that sprung up in the mind or in the imagination came to pass.
(President had not a chance to finish this).
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, DDE Diaries. Apparently dictated by the President to Ann Whitman.↩