The Ambassadorial talks at Geneva between representatives of the United States and the People’s Republic of China; negotiation of the Agreed Announcement of September 10, 1955, on the repatriation of Chinese and American civilians; discussions at Geneva concerning a possible mutual declaration of renunciation of force; the Republic of China’s concern at the course of the Geneva talks; U.S. policy concerning possible travel by Americans to the People’s Republic of China; the decision to base Matador missiles on Taiwan; the Taipei riot of May 1957; Secretary Dulles’ statement of June 1957 on U.S. policy toward China; the end of the Ambassadorial talks at Geneva


1. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–155. Official Use Only. The telegrams to and from Ambassador Johnson in Geneva were numbered in series with other telegrams to and from Geneva. The incoming telegrams bear Consul General Gowen’s signature. Telegram 312 to Geneva, July 29, directed that Johnson’s telegrams did not require Consulate concurrence and should receive no distribution within the Consulate. (Ibid., 611.93/7–2955)


2. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–255. Secret. Received at 11:17 a.m.


4. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–255. Confidential. Transmitted in two sections. Received at 4:50 p.m.


5. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the Secretary of State and Representative Richards, Washington, August 2, 1955

Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Memoranda of Conversation. Drafted by Dulles on August 3.


6. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–355. Confidential.


7. Letter From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Davis) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Robertson)

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.5/8–355. The letter was seen by Murphy and Hoover, as indicated by their initials on the source text and on an attached note.


8. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.95A251/8–455. Confidential; Priority.


9. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State, The White House, Washington, August 5, 1955, 12:30 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 711.11–EI/8–555. Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted by Dulles. An attached note indicates that the source text was seen by Hoover and that copies were distributed on an “eyes only” basis to Murphy, Robertson, Bowie, and Morton.


10. Telegram From the Secretary of State to Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson, at Geneva

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–555. Secret; Priority. Drafted by Dulles; cleared with McConaughy and approved for transmission by Robertson. McConaughy wrote to Johnson in a letter of August 8, “There is a pronounced feeling of satisfaction here with the way you have handled the first week of the negotiations. The Secretary himself is following every development closely. He has drafted some of the telegrams to you himself and ordered last Tuesday [August 2] that henceforth all messages to you which conveyed anything in the nature of instructions were to be personally approved by him.”

The letter was the first of the series of official–informal letters between McConaughy and Johnson pertaining to the Ambassadorial talks. (Ibid., Geneva Talks Files: Lot 72 D 415, Geneva—Correspondence Re US–PRC, 1955–1956)


11. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–755. Confidential.


12. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–855. Confidential; Priority.


13. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–955. Secret.


14. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, August 9, 1955

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–955. Confidential. Drafted on August 12 by McConaughy. A note on the source text states that separate memoranda of conversation were prepared on the following subjects which were discussed during the same conversation: “Chinese Representation in the UN” and “Registration with the UN of Mutual Defense Treaty of December 2, 1954, and Exchange of Notes of December 10”. The former is scheduled for inclusion in the U.N. membership compilation in a forthcoming volume; the latter is ibid., 793.5–MSP/8–955. Ambassador Koo’s record of this conversation, along with his records of other conversations with U.S. officials, are in the Wellington Koo Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, Box 195.


15. Telegram From the Secretary of State to Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson, at Geneva

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–955. Confidential. Drafted and signed by Dulles; cleared with Robertson.


16. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1155. Official Use Only; Priority. Received at 9:58 a.m.


17. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1155. Confidential; Priority. Received at 10:20 a.m.


18. Telegram From the Secretary of State to Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson, at Geneva

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1155. Secret; Priority. The source text lists Dulles and McConaughy as the drafters, but the Secretary did not initial. Approved for transmission by Robertson.


19. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1155. Confidential. Received at 8:45 p.m.


20. Telegram From the Secretary of State to Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson, at Geneva

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1255. Secret; Priority. Drafted and signed by Dulles; cleared with Robertson and McConaughy.


21. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1255. Confidential; Niact.


22. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1355. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution.


23. Telegram From the Secretary of State to Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson, at Geneva

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1355. Secret; Priority. Drafted by McConaughy; cleared in draft by Dulles and Sebald and in substance by Robertson. McConaughy wrote in a letter of August 15 to Johnson that Robertson had seen his telegrams 457 and 458 (supra and footnote 2 thereto) before departing for 2 weeks and “could not have been more emphatic in his reaction that we should not give up our main trading points in return for half a loaf or less. He felt that to do so would mean throwing in the sponge when we may have come close to the point of agreement on all the Americans. His view was generally shared by all who were working on the matter including the Secretary.” (Ibid., Geneva Talks Files: Lot 72 D 415, Geneva—Correspondence Re US–PRC, 1955–1956)


24. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1655. Confidential; Priority.


25. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1655. Secret; Limit Distribution.


26. Telegram From the Secretary of State to the Embassy in the Soviet Union

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1755. Secret; Priority. Drafted and signed by Dulles; cleared by Sebald. A telegram identical in substance was sent to New Delhi as telegram 383, August 17. (Ibid.)


27. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1855. Confidential; Niact.


28. Telegram From Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1855. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution.


29. Telegram From the Chargé in the Republic of China (Cochran) to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.5–MSP/8–1855. Secret. Passed to CINCPAC for information at the Embassy’s request.


30. Telegram From the Secretary of State to Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson, at Geneva

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/8–1855. Secret; Niact. Drafted by Dulles; cleared by McConaughy; and approved for transmission by Sebald. McConaughy’s letter No. 6 to Johnson, August 19, commented on this telegram as follows:

“The Secretary’s telegram 569 of last night gives you as much negotiating leeway as is possible under present circumstances without compromising the essential principle. This telegram gives the Chinese Communists an easy way out if they are willing to take it, for it means in effect that we would accept their promise as to Americans who would not be released immediately and the understanding on the remaining Americans would not have to be publicized at present. This is going a pretty long way. If we went any further to meet their demands, we would not even have a Communist promise in exchange for U.S. performance. We would indeed be ‘buying a pig in a poke’.” (Ibid., Geneva Talks Files: Lot 72 D 415, Geneva—Correspondence Re US–PRC, 1955–1956)