UN General Assembly
1955

57. At this point, on 24 January 1955, President Eisenhower asked the Congress of the United States for authority to use the armed forces of the United States in the defence of Taiwan and Penghu and related areas which the President might judge as appropriate to that defence. After full hearings in the House and the Senate of the United States, the requested authority was granted. In the House the vote was 409 to 3, and in the Senate the vote was 85 to 3. The authority thus granted terminates whenever the peace and security of the area are reasonably assured by international conditions created by action of the United Nations or otherwise. 58. I am convinced that this timely warning, given with solid, virtually unanimous, national concurrence, served to prevent what could have been a dangerous miscalculation on the part of the Chinese Communists.”