Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, China, Volume XIX

159. Memorandum From Acting Secretary of State Herter to Secretary of State Dulles⁰

Washington, October 6, 1958.

SUBJECT

• Conversation with the President

After I visited the President this morning with the Italian Ambassador,¹ I stayed over to discuss with him a possible statement with regard to the Chinese Communist broadcast announcing the seven-day suspension of fire on Quemoy. At the time, I did not have a draft in front of me since this had been delayed slightly in the Department and was being read over the phone to General Goodpaster’s office.

We discussed the general lines such a statement should take and I told the President the draft, which would be forthcoming shortly, would, I thought, follow those lines pretty closely. I asked him if he would be good enough to review the final text, as I felt this was a matter of sufficient importance to warrant his examining the exact wording. He at first felt it would not be necessary for him to do so but later agreed that he would, as a result of which the attached statement was issued at 1:15 today.²

During the course of the discussion it was clear that the President was worried about the entire picture, and at one time commented that as things now stood we were trying to maintain an illogical position. He referred to several letters he had received which disturbed him and at one point spoke with considerable heat about continuing to have to do what Chiang Kai-shek wanted us to do. He then said he was just about ready to tell Chiang Kai-shek where he (Chiang Kai-shek) got off.

In approving the draft statement attached, the President requested me to insert the sentence near the end which reads, “It should be pointed out that U.S. escorts for these convoys in the offshore island area have been limited strictly to international waters.”

C.A.H.

0. Source: Eisenhower Library, Herter Papers, Miscellaneous Memoranda. Top Secret. Drafted by Herter. A notation on the source text by Phyllis D. Bernau reads: “Sec saw. PDB.”
1. The President’s appointment diary indicates that Herter and the Italian Ambassador were there from 10:18 to 10:42 a.m. (Ibid., Whitman File)
2. The attached statement, issued that day by Herter, is not printed here; it expressed the hope that the Chinese Communist statement foreshadowed a permanent cessation of their attack on the offshore islands and that, should this prove to be the case, “there would seem to be no further necessity for the convoy of supply shipments to the offshore island positions.” For the complete text, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1958, pp. 1172–1173.