Evening star., 1950-08-29
All Sides Satisfied
Over Withdrawal Of
Macarthur Message
:.
Cose Seen Strengthened
y For u. S. to Continue
"a Occupation of Formoso
By David La,crence

Occupation Of Formoso
By David Larrence
A nervous week end was spent
by President Truman, the Joint
Chiefs of Staff and policymakers
Of the cabinet as it was debated
Just how to de-emphasize the
declaration made by Gen. Mac
Arthur in which he advocated
that Formosa should be defended
against occupation by any power
hostile to the United States.
All sides appear today to have
been satisfied with the outcome.
For, on the one hand, the text OF
the Macarthur statement has
been published to the world and,
at the same time, the American
Government has on record an an
nouncement beforehand that 1t
did not approve or authorize the
document.
The reason why the statement
was published centers on a Curl
Gus accident in publishing opera
tions for which nobody was to
blame. Gen. Macarthur had sent
a COPY of his message to United
States News g. World Report, a
weekly newsmagazine published
here and last Thursday the
editors had requested and OBJ
tanned from the public relations
director of the Veterans OF For
eisn Wars-to whose convention
in Chicago the message was to
have been delivered early Monday
permission to publish 1t in an
issue that was to be printed on
Saturday and mailed to reach
subscribers on Monday.
Available to Everybody.
When President Truman, after
conferences with officials here,
ordered the general on, Sunday
to withdraw the statement, it was
too late for the magazine to recall
any Of the more than 100000
copies 1t had printed, because they
had already been mailed to in
diyidual addresses throughout the
United States. Because the text
was printed already, the White
House didn't urge any other pub
Ncations to refrain from printing
it, and Representative Joseph
Martin, Republican leader. read
the message into the Congress
sional Record, so it would be
available to everybody.
Thus both sides had their way
those who didn't want to see
the Macarthur message sup
pressed and those who wanted II
made clear that what Gen. Mac
Arthur said was not necessarily
Americas official policy.
Examination of the text OF tht
senerals communication will show
that. while 1t Is a strongly
worded document on the subject
of defending Formosa. 1t does moi
conflict with State Department
policy except that 1t was inter-
jected Mt the wrong time into the
public prints. For the State De-
partment was planning this week
to welcome a thorough treatment
of the Formosa question by the
United Nations. Hence arguments
on the strategic Importance OF
Formosa by Gen. Macarthur or
anybody. else were, to say the
least, inopportune.
Views Supported.
So far as the generals reason
ing is concerned, it accords with
what military men here have al
ways felt-namely, that Formosa
must not be allowed to fall into
hostile hands. It goes without say
ing that the generals views are
unanimously supported by the
military experts and that any ef-
fort to minimize the Importance
Of these strategic considerations
will not sit well with the military
Gen. Macarthur did make 9
passing reference to those wht
want to soft-pedal the Formoss
defense problem. He thinks thai
those who say such discussion will
ALLEVIATE the peoples Of Asia are
wrong and that resoluteness ane
positiveness wins respect in tht
oriental world. -...
When it's all boiled down, Il
will be found that the Macarthur
abatement has strengthened tht
case for an indefinite occupation
of Formosa by the United States
until such time as the United
Nations wants to set up a trustee
ship or mandate or is ready te
take over the job OF occupation
on an international basis.
As to keeping Formosa out OF
the hands of the Communists Of
China or Russia, this. to be sure
Gen. Macarthur has made very
clear indeed-and, If the truth
were known, there aren't many ir
the civilian branches of the Gov
ernment who would disagree with
this thesis. It's simply that the
Macarthur message was moi
timed to fit in with the high
policy operations of the State De-
partment and the instructions il
was sending to American Ambas-
ssador Austin at the United Ma.
tions. II the message had beer
published in the normal way, Il
would have been necessary Later
to repudiate 1t. So perhaps thu
method of asking for Withdrawal
In advance was the only way Out
of the confusion.
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