Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, National Security Affairs, Volume II, Part 1

Eisenhower Library, Eisenhower papers, Whitman file

Memorandum of Discussion at the 139th Meeting of the National Security Council, Wednesday, April 8, 1953¹

[Extracts]

top secret
eyes only

April 8, 1953

Present at the 139th meeting of the Council were the President of the United States, presiding; the Vice President of the United States; the Secretary of State; the Secretary of Defense; and the Director for Mutual Security. Also present were the Secretary of the Treasury; the Attorney General (for Item 1); the Secretary of the Interior (for Item 1); the Director, Bureau of the Budget; the Acting Director of Defense Mobilization; the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Director of Central Intelligence; the Special Assisant to the President for National Security Affairs; the Special Assistant to the President for Cold War Planning; the Military Liaison Officer; the Executive Secretary, NSC; and the Deputy Executive Secretary, NSC.

There follows a general account of the main positions taken and the chief points made at this meeting.

. . . . . . .

7. Basic National Security Policies and Programs in Relation to Their Costs (NSC 149;² Memo for NSC from Executive Secretary, same subject, dated April 2, 1953;³ NIE–64 (Part I/1 and Part II⁴)

Mr. Cutler then turned to NSC 149 and explained that Part 1 consisted of a statement of policy, which he suggested that the Council approve after it had discussed the statement. Part 2 consisted of an outline of certain major programs, in which there would doubtless be further changes before the Council was prepared to act. The third part, dealing with the financial aspects of the problem, Mr. Cutler said was under study by the Bureau of the Budget, which would present a new set of figures for the meeting of the Council on April 22.

It was pointed out that several members of the Council would be out of the country for the April 22 meeting, but the President said that they would have to be represented by deputies on the occasion of this meeting, since decisions could not be postponed later than this date.

Mr. Cutler then called for suggestions by the members of the Council as to changes in Part 1 of NSC 149 which seemed desirable.

Secretary Humphrey said that at the request of Mr. C. D. Jackson a meeting had been held to discuss and agree upon ways and means of announcing the new budgetary levels and the new national security programs to the Congress and the people. It was the view of this meeting that the President should make reference to the new budget in a speech or press conference on or about April 20. Meanwhile, the committee believed that every effort should be made to prevent any leaks as to the content of NSC 149.

The Council agreed with this procedure and with the view that NSC 149 was to be “kept on ice” until April 20.

Theoretically, said Mr. Cutler, NSC 149 was to be regarded as subject to change until April 20.

The Council thereupon proceeded to indicate revisions in the wording of Part 1, including the addition of phraseology warning against the danger of inflation and pointing out how increased inflation might well ruin the attempt to achieve a balanced budget.

Secretary Wilson expressed some concern over the phrase in Part 1, paragraph 5, which spoke of courses of action by the United States “with a view to the ultimate retraction and reduction of the Soviet system to a point which no longer constitutes a threat to the security of the United States.” Secretary Wilson thought that this language sounded much too aggressive, and thought that it should be toned down.

Secretary Humphrey agreed with Secretary Wilson, but Mr. Cutler pointed out that anything which seriously infringed on this objective would leave the present Administration advocating policies toward the Soviet Union which, far from being more positive than those of President Truman and Secretary Acheson, would be softer.

Secretary Dulles also urged that the statement be left substantially as it was.

Accordingly, Secretary Wilson withdrew his point.

The Council then turned briefly to a consideration of Part 2 of NSC 149. On the financial issues and the figures indicating cuts, Secretary Humphrey pointed out that he did not regard the figures for cuts in Part 2 as fixed. Rather, they were to him indications of the direction in which the Administration was going, and it might well prove feasible to make further cuts in the programs for FY 1954.

Mr. Cutler confirmed Secretary Humphrey’s opinion that the figures in Part 2 were not yet firm and would not be until the Council acted after April 20.

Secretary Wilson said that he was not inclined to discuss this part of the paper at the present time, until he had been able to give the report further study in the Defense Department. He did, however, express the opinion that his people in the Defense Department were very concerned about the size of the proposed cuts in the Mutual Security program for FY 1954 and 1955 and the effect that such cuts would have on military assistance to our allies.

Secretary Dulles also agreed on the dangerous character of a reduction of the MSA program from $8 billion to $6.5 billion.

Secretary Humphrey protested strongly against this view, but the President once more insisted that Secretary Humphrey was inexact in describing the MSA funds as “giveaway” money. Actually we were buying security with these funds.

With regard to the forthcoming NATO meeting⁵ which would occur before the Administration had finally made up its mind on the figure for the Mutual Security budget, the President suggested that when Secretaries Dulles and Wilson and Mr. Stassen arrived at the NATO meeting they would find that several of the NATO countries would be quite eager to climb down somewhat from the goals and objectives which had previously been set. It therefore seemed to the President better to agree with these countries on a reduction in their obligations and then say that in the circumstances they did not require so much assistance from the United States. This would be better strategy than for the United States to announce to these countries in the first instance that it proposed to make cuts in the levels of assistance it was projecting for the next fiscal year.

The National Security Council:⁶

a. Deferred action on Part 1 of the reference report on the subject (NSC 149) pending further study.

b. Agreed that the Secretary of Defense, the Director for Mutual Security, and the Atomic Energy Commission should submit to the Council, not later than April 20, 1953, definitive outlines, along the lines of Part 2 of NSC 149 (as revised by the Summary Report by the Special Assistant to the President for Atomic Energy Matters,^* dated March 31, 1953), of the respective military, mutual security, and atomic energy programs for FY 1954 and FY 1955 (with such informative analyses as each may deem appropriate).

Note: The action in b above subsequently transmitted to the Secretary of Defense, the Director for Mutual Security, and the Atomic Energy Commission, respectively, for appropriate implementation.

. . . . . . .

S. Everett Gleason

1. Drafted by Deputy Executive Secretary Gleason on Apr. 16.
2. See footnote 1, supra.
3. This memorandum transmitted to the National Security Council the memorandum, supra.
4. For documentation on NIE–64 concerning Soviet bloc capabilities and intentions, see volume viii.
5. For documentation on the Eleventh Session of the North Atlantic Council at Paris in April 1953, see vol. v, Part 1, pp. 368 ff.
6. Paragraphs a–b constitute NSC Action No. 762. (S/S–NSC (Miscellaneous) files, lot 66 D 95, “NSC Records of Action”)
7. See atomic energy file, “Strauss Report”. [Footnote in the source text. For documentation on the foreign policy aspects of atomic energy, see pp. 845 ff.]