740.5/2–1054
Memorandum by the Deputy Under Secretary of State (Murphy) to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Bonbright)
With reference to your memorandum of February 1,1 General Ridgway lunched with me today and gave me the explicit assurance that so far as he personally is concerned, and he said that he thought this represented the view of the Joint Chiefs, there is no intention of withdrawal of U.S. ground forces from Europe.2 He said that he thought they fully appreciated the effect on EDC of a shift in U.S. policy regarding the maintenance of American ground forces in Europe and that apart from the military considerations involved, the Joint Chiefs were giving full weight to the political considerations affecting EDC.
I thought I detected a much more firm attitude on the part of General Ridgway regarding maintenance of forces abroad than he expressed some weeks ago when this subject was discussed. Mr. Robertson, who attended on both occasions, agrees with this estimate. Thus, on the subject of withdrawal of ground forces from Korea about which General Ridgway had expressed himself very positively a few weeks ago, he now says that what he meant was a “regrouping” rather than withdrawal.
I doubt whether there is any reason for immediate concern on the question referred to in your memorandum of February 1. (attached)