301. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Herter0
MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION WITH THE PRESIDENT IN AUGUSTA
The Secretary telephoned the President with regard to several matters.
1. Korea. The Secretary referred to the serious situation in Korea with riots in most of the major cities and the declaration of martial law. The Secretary said this has all come about as a protest against Rhee’s conduct of the elections and his suppression of critics of the elections. The Secretary said he is seeing the Korean Ambassador this afternoon and plans to hand him a very stiff aide-mémoire;1 that depending on how things develop, it might be desirable for the President to communicate with Rhee in a day or two. The President said we just have to get tough with Rhee and tell him that we fought for the freedom of South Korea and that unless Rhee permits free elections and the people are given the right to vote, there is just no sense in our being in Korea. The Secretary said that while we are technically interfering with the internal affairs of Korea, there are special justifications in this case. The President agreed and said it was at Rhee’s insistence that we have kept troops there to defend him. The Secretary said the note he plans to hand the Korean Ambassador is pretty rough, but the Secretary said he didn’t see that we had any choice, and the President agreed that was right. The Secretary said our Ambassador thinks nothing but a new election, at least for the Vice President, would save the situation. The President said that the Secretary should tell our Ambassador to say this to Rhee.
[Here follows discussion of other matters.]
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Herter Papers, Telephone Conversations. Transcribed by Herter’s secretary, Marian S. Stilson. Herter was in Washington.↩
- See Document 302.↩