Office of the Historian
  1. Home
  2. Historical Documents
  3. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Japan; Korea, Volume XVIII
  4. Document 208

208. Letter From the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Sprague) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Robertson)0

Washington, January 21, 1958.

Dear Mr. Robertson: Reference is made to your letter of 8 January 1958,1 concerning information on the introduction of the Honest John and 280mm gun field artillery battalions into Korea.

This is to inform you that the U.S. Air Force plans to deploy to Korea the 588th Tactical Missile Group (Matador), [less than 1 line of source text not declassified]. The advanced echelon of this group will be deployed some time during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 1958, to be followed by emplacement of a full group in approximately eighteen months. On 17 January 1958, the same information was reported in a Department of Defense brief to the White House.2

Sincerely yours,

Mansfield D. Sprague3
  1. Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD/ISA Files: FRC 62 A 1698,091.3 Korea. Top Secret. Drafted in ISA/FE by H.J. Sandri.↩
  2. Document 204.↩
  3. Not found.↩
  4. Printed from a copy that bears this stamped signature.↩