Extracted text

OCR Page 1 of 30
5/15/54 - Reel 5, track 1, Page 1 VOICE: That we've been thrust into a position by this desperate attempt to maintain short-term stability. Now this thing has come on fairly recently with, in that, Korea has greatly heightened the necessity for short-term stability which we may not have felt. For example, immediately after the war when the Indonesian thing was tackled, but I don't know of any positive steps we have taken since Indonesia to disturb the status quo. VOICE: How about the 24th? The announcement of it? TRUMAN ARCHIVES& RECURDS ADMING of -VATIONAL VOICE: Well, that's rather vague VOICE: How about commerce? to VOICE: That doesn't change any (confused) VOICE: President Roosevelt's position, at least I believe, and you can correct me, had a tremendous influence on both sides: both the colonial countries and on the British in forcing the action which they took. (confused) MR. NITZE: I thought I heard you say not a half hour ago that the British were moving much too rapidly in Nigeria. That this is a mistake. That they were giving these people their independence before they were ready for it and that this was a dangerous thing that the British were doing and that the British government was schizophrenic in moving forward at this rate in Nigeria when they were moving in the opposit te direction in other areas. VOICE: I believe that not Nigeria, but the Gold Coast was what I said. I'm not saying what we should do. All I am pointing out is that this desire for short-term stability, which I think has been a post-war factor, but it has been accentuated since Korea, has lead us into a position where we want to maintain the status quo.