740.00119 Control (Germany)/11–1945: Telegram
The United States Political Adviser for Germany (Murphy) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 20—8:15 p.m.]
1056. Personal for Matthews. I drafted the following message for the personal attention of the Secretary and I would be grateful if you could find opportunity to discuss the matter with him. It concerns the extent and scope of reporting to the Department by State Department representatives here.
As you know it has not been easy at times to maintain a line of demarcation between what fell into War Department province and what fell into State. I have always emphasized to the military here [Page 1004] that both departments work hand in hand. I can well understand, of course, General Clay’s insistence that all instructions come to him from his own Department. At the same time it is also clear that when the Department of State expresses a view it would come through my channel and that I would convey it to him. I think the Department should very definitely insist upon its right to continue this procedure.
“Personal for the Secretary
“General Clay raises fundamental question of status and jurisdiction of Department’s participation in Military Government of Germany, on which I should be grateful for your advice. General Clay informs me that in his opinion I have been reporting to the Department on subjects, particularly in the economic field, which should be exclusively reported by him in his discretion to the War Department. When the Department of State telegraphs to me comment on these problems and other subjects, its views are of course immediately communicated to General Clay. He objects to this procedure and said that the Department is setting up here a species of “political commissariat” which seeks to review and influence the entire range of questions relating to the American participation in the occupation of Germany.
“This is not my view. The Department’s Mission here is exceedingly limited by the personnel factor in the first place. It has consistently sought with the utmost loyalty to Generals Eisenhower and Clay—at times when possibly it did not fully agree with actions taken, with or without consultation with the Department’s representatives—to support and aid the War Department in its difficult task. In my reporting to the Department, I am guided by the Department’s standing instructions and a desire to cooperate fully with our military authorities.
“When General Clay informs me that he is taking orders only from the War Department, I believe that such a position is parochial. The Government’s interest in Germany surpasses one department of the Government. Certainly the representatives here of the Department of State, which is, after all, directly charged with our foreign relations, have never questioned a governmental decision whether it reaches them through War Department or other qualified agency.
“The foregoing issue is one which I have tried to bridge with as much tact as I could muster and this has been facilitated by what for me is a happy personal relationship with General Clay. As he feels so strongly about it, I respectfully suggest that a firm decision be taken jointly by you and Judge Patterson so that the Department’s Mission here may have its responsibilities and its authority to report to the Department of State clearly defined.
“I have shown the foregoing to General Clay and he is telegraphing his views to the War Department.”61
- See excerpts from General Clay’s cable to the War Department of November 17, and General Clay’s general observations on his working relationship with Mr. Murphy at this time in Lucius D. Clay, Decision in Germany (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday and Co., 1950) pp. 56–58.↩