White House Press Release

foreign Germany IMMEDIATE RELEASE DECEMBER 5, 1952 The President has sent the following letter to the Honorable Walter J. Donnelly, accepting his resignation as United States High Commissioner for Germany and Chief of Mission: My dear Mr. Donnelly: I accept your resignation as United States High Commissioner for Germany and Chief of Mission, to be effective simultaneously with your voluntary retirement from the Foreign Service on December 31, 1952. You are bringing to a close an outstanding career of thirty years in the service of our Government and you can be proud of the valuable contributions you have made in the fulfillment of the many important and difficult assignments entrusted to you. I wish to thank you for your excellent work as American Chief of Mission since 1947. You have shown the highest qualities of leadership and ability while serving in that capacity in Costa Rica, Venezuela, Austria and more recently as United States High Commissioner for Germany. In addition to your ambassadorial duties in Austria you were appointed the first United States civilian High Commissioner for Austria and successfully directed the transition of the United States element of the High Commission from military to civilian control. Your representation of United States interests in the Four-Power Allied Council was most effective and is greatly appre- ciated. With best wishes for your happiness in the years to come, Very sincerely yours, HARRY S. TRUMAN Following is the text of Mr. Donnelly's letter to the President: My dear Mr. President: It is with genuine regret that I ask you to accept my resignation as chief of diplomatic mission and as United States High Commissioner for Germany, and if it is agreeable to you I suggest that this resignation become effective December 31, 1952. It will be recalled that I reached this decision several months ago, but that when it was indicated to me that the Government would prefer to have me postpone my retirement, I agreed to do RUMAN so until the end of this year. I am also writing a letter to "NATIONAL the Secretary of State informing him of my decision to retire ARCHIVES AND P RECORDS from the Foreign Service of the United States Government. SERVICE" It has been a great privilege to serve our Government for thirty consecutive years at a number of posts in the Foreign Service. I shall always be grateful to you, Mr. President, for your many kindnesses to me and for the honor of representing you and the American people as chief of several United States diplomatic missions during your incumbency as President. I have endeavored to serve you and my country faithfully and I have tried at all times to advance the cause of peace which I regard as the cornerstone of our foreign policy. I am proud of the Foreign Service of our Government and of its members with whom I have been associated during the past