Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Japan, Volume XXIII, Part 1

166. Supplementary Notes on the Legislative Leadership Meeting, Washington, June 4, 1957¹

Washington, June 4, 1957

[Here follows discussion of unrelated matters.]

Girard Case—The President informed the leaders that State and Defense had reached agreement to relinquish jurisdiction to Japan, and that a lengthy explanation was being press released.² There were a few facts detailed in the release that Sec. Brucker did not have available when he reached his first decision and talked to the Leaders.³ The President said we were not required to forego jurisdiction but that we had done so voluntarily. He pointed out that in some 14,000 cases, the Japanese had voluntarily relinquished jurisdiction in 13,642, that Japanese sentences in the cases they tried and convicted were lighter than the sentences meted out by our courts-martial, that Treaty procedures were followed to the point where we had originally relinquished jurisdiction over Girard, and that we did not wish to back out of that agreement.

Sen. Knowland referred to discussions of the preceding evening,⁴ agreed that there really was no alternative available in the situation which confronted the Administration, that repercussions must be expected, and that he hoped things could be fixed so that we didn’t get into this situation again.

The President then commented on how the soldier had gone out of his way to “manufacture” some ammunition—he had not been issued ammunition by his commanding officer—and how things of this sort inevitably occurred in any organization as big as the Army.

The President added that the administrative agreement supplementing the Treaty and covering these matters had come to be much like the Status of Forces treaties in Europe but was a bit more liberal than, for instance, the one with the British. The Japanese had acted very splendidly under this agreement, the President said.⁵

[Here follows discussion of unrelated matters.]

LAM

1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Legislative Meetings. Confidential. Drafted by Minnich.
2. For the joint statement of Secretaries Dulles and Wilson, issued by the Department of Defense that day, see Department of State Bulletin, June 24, 1957, p. 1000.
3. See Document 142.
4. No record of these discussions has been found.
5. President Eisenhower discussed the Girard case along similar lines in response to a question at his news conference held on June 5; see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1957, pp. 436–437.