31. Memorandum on Substance of Discussions of Department of State–Joint Chiefs of Staff Meeting, the Pentagon, Washington, March 30, 1956, 11:30 a.m.1
[Here follows a list of those present (27); a review of the SEATO meeting held at Karachi, March 6–8, and Secretary Dulles’ subsequent trip to a number of Asian capitals; and discussion of agenda items 1 and 2, “Japanese Fishing Problem” and “Chiang Kai-shek’s Desire for Chinese Military Visits to the U.S.” The Department of Defense was represented by 17 officers, the Department of State by 8, the National Security Council by 1, and the Central Intelligence Agency by 1. The ranking members of the Defense delegation were Admirals Radford and Burke and Generals Taylor and Twining. Murphy and MacArthur headed the State delegation.]
3. Loan of Naval Vessels to Latin America
Mr. Murphy recalled his letter to Defense Assistant Secretary Gray last October2 on this subject and said that we had not yet received a reply. Admiral Radford replied that the JCS were very much aware of the problem and were still “struggling with it”. Admiral Burke took up the discussion and said that the whole problem was under active study. A bill to provide $25 million for [Page 244] use in making submarines, submarine vessels and other smaller ships available to Latin America is under consideration but has been difficult to work out. Admiral Burke expressed the desire to act on the Latin American area as a whole rather than to deal on a national basis; otherwise, there will be constant comparisons between the different countries and complaints of favoritism. Admiral Radford continued that the Latin Americans are not seeking grant aid so much but would like to buy equipment if they could get it on long term loans (similar to the British method of doing business in this field). We badly need a way to finance such sales, but we should not try to do it from military aid funds and tie them up on a long term basis. Admiral Radford stressed the United States’ interest in having American equipment in Latin American navies and emphasized that one of the benefits would be that spare parts would come from here. Admiral Burke said that he hoped his staff study would be ready soon and would like the opportunity to discuss it in rough draft with the State Department before formally proposing it. Mr. Murphy and Mr. Lyon offered full cooperation to Admiral Burke.
With respect to the Brazilian desire for an aircraft carrier, Admiral Radford commented that one carrier as such would be of no practical naval use and that under present naval planning a carrier is merely one component of a larger complex.
[Here follows discussion of agenda items 4 and 5, “The Situation in Iceland” and “Other Matters”.]
- Source: Department of State, State–JCS Meetings: Lot 61 D 147. Top Secret. The source text bears the following notation: “State Draft. Not cleared with any of participants.”↩
- Document 27.↩