371. Editorial Note
At the 403d meeting of the National Security Council on April 23, 1959, Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles reported on Tibet during his briefing on significant world developments. The relevant portion of the memorandum of discussion prepared by S. Everett Gleason, April 23, reads as follows:
“Mr. Dulles said that the latest messages about the situation in Tibet clearly indicated that the dissidents or the patriots had been severely beaten by the Chinese Communists. As of now, the patriots had been pressed into a relatively small area of Tibet. The messages had a rather pathetic quality. The patriots had no food and no ammunition and they were requesting our intercession with the Indian Government to permit their passage into India. Mr. Dulles said that of course we would do all that we could to help them but it was a difficult situation. The Chinese Communists had put on a very effective military showing. They were making use of veterans of the Korean War and they were also making very efficient use of aircraft. It looked as though the rebel forces in the Khamba area had been pretty well knocked to pieces. The same was probably true of the rebel forces in the Lhasa area.
[Page 756]“[2 paragraphs (13 lines of source text) not declassified]
“With respect to the lack of food for the refugees, Secretary Herter wondered whether we could make use of PL 480. Mr. Dulles replied that we were considering this problem with General Gruenther as head of the Red Cross in case a request came from India for food supplies for these refugees. The Vice President commented that he felt that the use of the Red Cross as an instrumentality to relieve the refugees was better than direct U.S. Government intervention.
“Secretary McElroy inquired whether this government was doing all it could in order to keep the ruthless Chinese Communist action against Tibet on the front pages. Secretary McElroy thought that Tibet should be treated as a new Hungary and it seemed to him that the Tibetan situation was in fact getting out of the front pages. It was in our interest to keep it there.
“Secretary Herter cautioned that we must be careful that we ourselves do not appear to stimulate reactions to the Chinese Communists’ action in Tibet but rather covertly assist the Asian peoples themselves to keep the Tibetan action prominently before the world. Mr. Dulles promised to get to work on this problem.” (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, NSC Records)