Office of the Historian

190. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Radford) and the Ambassador to Japan (MacArthur), Department of State, Washington, June 21, 1957, 8:30 a.m.1

Washington, June 21, 1957, 8:30 a.m.

SUBJECT

  • Reduction of United States Forces in Japan During the next Twelve Months

Pursuant to the Secretary’s instructions, I talked with Admiral Radford this morning before the Secretary’s meeting with Prime Minister Kishi. I explained to Admiral Radford that the Secretary would be meeting with Mr. Kishi at 9 a.m. and that we anticipated that Mr. Kishi might inquire what the over-all extent of our reduction in forces would be for the next twelve months. The Secretary wanted Admiral Radford’s advice as to what reply should be made in the event Mr. Kishi asked this question.

Admiral Radford replied that we could inform Mr. Kishi that we would in the next twelve months reduce our existing force levels in Japan by at least fifty per cent and that this figure would include the withdrawal of all ground combat forces.

  1. Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, CF 889. Confidential. Drafted by MacArthur.↩