46. Memorandum From the Counselor of the Department of State (MacArthur) to the Secretary of State1
On March 31, Sir Percy Spender called on Livie to say he gathered it was now agreed that there would be intimate military planning [Page 88] among the ANZUS members and the UK on a secret basis within the general cover of ANZUS.2 Since none of the records of the Menzies conversations substantiated any agreement on our part to engage in such four-power secret military talks with respect to the defense of Malaya and Southeast Asia, I was asked to carry the ball on this and to get a US position to give to Sir Percy.
I consulted with the Department of Defense, and there was strong objection on the part of the Defense Department and the JCS to such four-power military talks. There was also strong objection on the part of Mr. Robertson, and all these objections were concurred in by Mr. Merchant. In essence, the Department of Defense felt that such conversations were designed to extract from us specific force commitments with respect to Malaya, etc., and furthermore, the Department of Defense and the Department of State were agreed that knowledge of such talks would probably become known, and would create a major crisis with our Asian partners in the Manila Pact.
Yesterday I talked to Sir Percy Spender and told him that the Department of State and the Department of Defense could not agree to such four-power military talks. I stressed that we attach greatest importance to ANZUS and that there were provisions for tripartite military and political conversations within the ANZUS framework, but that the question of four-power talks was another matter. Sir Percy said this was consistent with the position we had taken but there would be disappointment on the part of his Government. He specifically asked me if this position opposing four-power military talks was concurred in by you and the top people in Defense, and I replied in the affirmative. I think the Australians understand and will accept our position, but Sir Percy may discuss this with you, and I wished you to know that I had said you concurred in the position which I outlined to him yesterday.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 790.5/4–2055. Top Secret.↩
- In his memorandum of the conversation held with Spender on March 31, Merchant stated that “Sir Percy mentioned to me that from the Menzies visit with Admiral Radford, he gathers that it was now agreed that there would be intimate military planning among the ANZUS members and the U.K. His thought (which he implied Admiral Radford either suggested or approved) would be to do this under cover of ANZUS meetings with the British representative coming up the private elevator.” (Ibid., FE Files: Lot 56 D 679, MC–Australians) No memorandum of Prime Minister Menzies’ conversation with Admiral Radford during the March visit was been found in Department of State files.↩