41. Letter From President Eisenhower to British Prime Minister Churchill1
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Respecting the Far East—yesterday I sent a message to the Congress to clarify the intention of this nation in the region of the Formosa straits. It would be a pity if the Communists misinterpreted our forebearance to mean indecision and precipitated a crisis that could bring on a nasty situation.
[Page 129]I note that in the memorandum accompanying your letter,2 your Government fears that during the next two or three years the United States may, through impulsiveness or lack of perspective, be drawn into a Chinese war.
I trust that my message to the Congress reassured you as to our basic attitudes and sober approach to critical problems.
It is probably difficult for you, in your geographical position, to understand how concerned this country is with the solidarity of the Island Barrier in the Western Pacific. Moreover, we are convinced that the psychological effect in the Far East of deserting our friends on Formosa would risk a collapse of Asiatic resistance to the Communists. Such possibilities cannot be lightly dismissed; in our view they are almost as important, in the long term, to you as they are to us.
I am certain there is nothing to be gained in that situation by meekness and weakness. God knows I have been working hard in the exploration of every avenue that seems to lead toward the preservation and strengthening of the peace. But I am positive that the free world is surely building trouble for itself unless it is united in basic purpose, is clear and emphatic in its declared determination to resist all forceful Communist advance, and keeps itself ready to act on a moment’s notice, if necessary.
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