740.00119 Control (Germany)/5–1045
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
| Participants: | The President |
| General J. C. Holmes32 | |
| Mr. William Phillips33 | |
| Acting Secretary, Mr. Grew |
I called on the President this morning with General Holmes and Mr. Phillips and took up the following problems:
1. Post-war Treatment of Germany. I said that our directive to the Commander-in-Chief in Europe on the post-war treatment of Germany was now completed with the exception of one or two minor points still under consideration by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and that I hoped the paper would be ready this afternoon to submit to the President for his approval. I also said that we are under great pressure from the public to publish our plans in this respect and that after the President had approved the document and after it had been sent [Page 509] to General Eisenhower we could give publicity to the substance of the paper at an early date. The President agreed and said that he had already looked at the preliminary documents which were already before him and he asked us to give him the highlights of the plan. General Holmes said that the main purpose of the plan was to eliminate such industries in Germany as might be able to manufacture the implements of war. The President asked whether this included light as well as heavy industries. General Holmes observed that Mr. Morgenthau desired to have the synthetic oil plants destroyed but our position is that it would be unwise to destroy them as long as General Eisenhower might have use of them instead of having to import large quantities of oil from the United States. The President said that in this respect he entirely disagreed with Mr. Morgenthau. The President said that he would be in his office all the afternoon and that as soon as the paper is ready he would be glad to have Mr. Clayton and myself bring it over and lay it before him personally and he would make a point of studying it without delay.
The President said that as soon as the rough and tumble period is over in Germany he wants Governmental control of Germany to be in civilian hands as rapidly as the transition can be efficiently brought about. The President made a general statement that it is in our tradition that the military should not have governmental responsibilities beyond the requirements of military operations.
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