Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, China, Volume II

64. Memorandum From the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Radford) to the President¹

Washington, 31 January 1955.

1. Referring to your Memorandum for the Record, attached herewith,² it is my recollection that sub-paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) are as I understood them.

2. With regard to sub-paragraph (d). I recall this discussion and believe that my explanation may have been misunderstood. It is my feeling that the Officer in Tactical Command—the flag officer on the scene—must have discretion in deciding when his forces are in such jeopardy that he is justified in attacking the air bases from which the attackers come. The initial attack may be in considerable strength—that is an option the Communist commander will have. The initial attack might be directed primarily against U.S. forces and might cause such damage to our own evacuating forces that the U.S. commander would feel that to prevent further damage he had to order an attack on Communist airfields. Certainly there would be no time to communicate with higher headquarters.

3. Attached is a copy of the message sent to Admiral Stump³ as a result of my understanding of your decision. I therefore recommend that sub-paragraph (d) read:

“It was finally agreed that the United States Commander could attack the airfields from which the Chinese Communist air forces were operating if necessary in defense of his own forces engaged in the operation.”⁴

Arthur Radford

1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International Series. Top Secret. Source text bears the notation in the President’s handwriting: “approved for file. DE”
2. Document 57.
3. Document 58.
4. See footnote 1, Document 57. A memorandum of January 31, from Goodpaster to Radford states that he had informed Radford’s office that the President had approved his redraft of subparagraph (d) and that “the President had indicated his point concerning ‘initial attacks’ was that we should not show our hand in response to essentially ‘probing’ operations.” (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Miscellaneous Series, Conferences on Formosa)