144. Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Army (Brucker), Washington, May 21, 1957, 12:26 p.m.1
TELEPHONE CALL TO SEC BRUCKER
The Sec said he was talking with the Pres and he wonders whether we should not say we think we made a mistake and are going to have to reconsider our position and can’t agree so propose it be dealt with through diplomatic channels. Br would not have any power over that. All he can do is with his commander and then he exhausts his power when he tells him to go ahead with the court martial and something else I didn’t get.2 If a statement were made with ref to the govt level or anything like that B would not have anything to say. The Sec understands that but …3 Whatever, said B, the Pres does B would of course applaud. The only thing B wants is to get it back on the rails etc. The Sec referred to the cable of 4/264 re no resort to dip [Page 304] channels so he wanted to speak to B. B said we would not have any part in that—B thinks he should not get into anything beyond this step. The Sec said B has to say in light of the facts B believes a mistake was made in the Joint Comm and it is not possible to agree to Japanese jurisdiction and consequently it should be dealt with through govtal channels which the treaty provides. B thought it best not to go into the treaty except to say it is without prejudice. The Sec would like to see what B is sending out and B will have it called over.5
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Telephone Conversations. Drafted by Bernau.↩
- Presumably this is Bernau’s comment.↩
- Ellipsis in the source text.↩
- Reference is to DA 921933, Document 130.↩
- See footnote 2, Document 147.↩