Extracted text

OCR Page 1 of 9
NLT798 164 MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD OF THE EVENTS OF SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 1950 237 Mr. Acheson met about 8:15 a.m. with Mr. Rusk with regard to the message which General MacArthur had sent to the VFW. The meeting had been called the preceding night. Mr. Matthews, Mr. Jessup and Mr. Webb joined the Secretary in that order. Mr. Rusk asked me to call Ambassador Harriman and ask him to stop by the Secretary's office on his way to his own office. Mr. Harriman agreed to do this and arrived at the State Department about 8:55. Consideration was given to the message which General MacArthur had sent and to the political problems which such a message would raise. Mr. Harriman came out and told me that he wanted to see the President prior to the 9:30 meeting which was scheduled. He asked me to call Matt Connelly and arrange for him to see the President before this meeting. I was unable to reach Mr. Connelly but spoke to Mr. Hopkins who told me that he would arrange for MATIONAL ARCHIVES AND Mr. Harriman to come in. RECORDS SERVIGE'* the After the meeting at the White House, the Secretary said that the President had raised the question of the message which General MacArthur had sent out. The President then read the message in its entirety, commenting on certain portions of it as he did so. The Secretary did not discuss the message during the course of this meeting. The President referred to the message as having been given to him by Mr. Harriman. The President If considered the matter carefully and decided that the only course was to order withdrawal of the message. He instructed Secretary Johnson to issue an order to General MacArthur for the withdrawal 00 of this message. Following this, there were numerous telephone conversations which are reported separately. LDBattle DECLASSIFIED En O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and wes 3-31-25 PROTECT NLT 76-1f Depr. of State letter, ring. By NLT HC NARS Dute f.4.72 TOP SECRET