37. Memorandum From John W. Hanes to the Secretary’s Special Assistant (O’Connor)1
SUBJECT
- Ambassador Lacy’s views on Korea
Bill Lacy spoke to me concerning the Korean situation, and reported a highly personal and confidential talk he had had with Radford. He asked that Radford be protected on this.
He said that he had bluntly asked Radford what the build-up plans in Korea were, and received the answer that they were “to restore the balance between ourselves and the Communists, by the replacement of old and obsolete equipment with new”. Radford made it clear that what he had in mind was primarily airplanes, but also [Page 68] including some small equipment such as mortars. There was a bare possibility that such replacement might include some heavy artillery items. Radford made it clear that our defense in depth was now far back of Korea and even back of Japan to Okinawa. Lacy commented that it was clear that the “restoration of balance” to which Radford referred was in no sense a local balance in Korea, but, if anything, a balance in the whole area.
Lacy made the following points:
- 1.
- He felt that this information was different than that on which the Secretary was basing his plans and proceeding, and that the Secretary should be informed.
- 2.
- If this concept is accepted (and it is apparently the clear and present working concept of the Defense Department), Lacy felt that we should review our own present activities in relation to the abolishment of the NNSC and of Article 13(d) of the Armistice Agreement. He said that, even under these conditions, he still felt it was advisable to get rid of the NNSC, because of its internal Korean implications. However, he felt that we definitely should not go through the agony of negotiating with our allies to abolish Article 13(d) when our plans (as outlined above) do not envision anything which cannot be accomplished under 13(d).
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Strictly Confidential. Top Secret; Personal. Hanes was O’Connor’s Special Assistant.↩