Office of the Historian

287. Memorandum From the Secretary of State to the Under Secretary of State (Hoover)1

Washington, July 3, 1955.

I am wondering whether it would not help the general situation, and ward off undesirable proposals, if we should indicate to the Chicoms [Page 631] that during the presence of Mr. Phleger at Geneva, the US would be prepared to let him carry on the current talks there with the Chicoms, in the event that the Chicoms would correspondingly raise their level. They could then deal more authoritatively, and perhaps bring about some positive result in terms of release of US citizens now detained. I am getting fed up with all the intermediaries.2

JFD
  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Wang–Johnson Talks. Secret. Drafted by Dulles; also sent to Murphy, Robertson, Phleger, and MacArthur.↩

  2. A memorandum of July 6 from Murphy to Dulles expressed support for the Secretary’s suggestion and called his attention to Murphy’s April 29 memorandum (Document 231). (Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/7–655)

    A memorandum of July 5 from Dulles to Robertson, copies of which were sent to Hoover, MacArthur, Murphy, and Phleger, replied to Robertson’s July 1 memorandum (Document 284). It stated that there was “a good deal of cogency” in Robertson’s arguments and continued as follows:

    “I wonder whether it might not be a good idea to notify the Chinese Communists either through the UK or through their representative at Geneva that Mr. Phleger will be at Geneva for the Big Four Conference and that if the Chinese Communists designate someone of comparable rank, he will talk with them about the subject matter.

    “As you know, I think there is need to do something and I feel that some direct contacts are less dangerous than the kind of ineffectual intermediary activities of such persons as Menon and U Nu, who, I think, are not hard-headed enough to report accurately to us what the Chinese Communists really think or vice versa.

    “If it would be useful for the President or me to throw Menon a ‘bone’, we could let him be the bearer of the news re Geneva.” (Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Wang–Johnson Talks)

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