41. Memorandum From the Counselor of the Department of State (MacArthur) to the Secretary of State1
Mr. Secretary: I have read with great interest U Nu’s letter of May 22 to President Eisenhower. I have also talked with members of the visiting Burmese military delegation. It seems to me that in a sense we have reached a crossroads in our relations with Burma where, if we can act speedily and wisely, and can do something along the lines of U Nu’s request, we can substantially strengthen our position in Burma. I know there is a provision in the Battle Act (which has been used in the case of European countries such as Denmark) which enables the President to determine that despite shipments of certain strategic items to the Soviet or Communist bloc, it is in our interest to extend aid.
As I see it, this is a case where we should certainly move heaven and earth to act—and very swiftly, too—in response to U Nu’s letter. If, on the other hand, we let this matter drag along and in effect keep postponing a decision, I fear our action will simply force Burma further into the Communist embrace, and quite against the desires of U Nu and certainly at least some influential members of the visiting Burmese military delegation.
[Page 66]If we decide this is the right thing to do, I hope we can move ahead in a matter of days, and not have a repetition of the Ceylon fiasco whereby all kinds of reasons were found to postpone a decision for approximately three months after we had decided, in principle, to move.
I am not sending a copy of this memorandum to anyone else.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 790B.5–MSP/6–556. Secret. A notation on the source text indicates that it was seen by the Secretary.↩