Letter from Justice William O. Douglas to President Harry S. Truman

Supreme yourt of the United States Washington 13, A. CHAMBERS OF JUSTICE WILLIAM o. DOUGLAS September 25, 1951. Dear Mr. President: I have your letter of September 13th, which reached me by messenger the 18th, just after my return to Washington, D. C. I regret that a public statement of mine embarrassed and offended you. Never have I said or done anything in public or in private with the purpose of injuring you or with the thought that it might. I think you know the affection I have for you, a feeling which will survive any and all differences of opinion between us. Just to keep the record straight, what I said at the press conference in San Francisco was what I wrote in the article in Look Magazine for August 14, 1951. When the questions came around to China, I was asked what our policy towards Red China should be. I said that we should make a political settlement with Red China. The next question was: does that mean recognition? I said that if a political settlement with Red China was worked out, it of course meant recognition, as that was one of the normal consequences of a political settlement of differences between nations. I went on to say that we recognized many, many governments whose policies and practices we could never approve. I write what follows merely to make sure no misunderstanding grows up between us. I respect your judgment; and I only want you to know the basis of mine. I know how you feel about Asia and China. I remember our talk in the fall of 1950, after I had returned from an earlier trip to Asia, including Hong Kong. I reported to you my conversations with various non-Communist men and women of the colored races of the Far East. They urged that America make a political settlement with Red China.