For Acting Secretary Acheson's Eyes Only from the Secretary

47.03.07(606w)

TO DEAN G. ACHESONMarch 7, 1947

Radio No. 1013. Top SecretParis, France

For Acting Secretary Acheson's eyes only from the Secretary.

I consider the following changes in the President’s draft message highly desirable.1 Subject to the changes noted below I approve the statement. Paragraphs are numbered 1 through 44 as received here.

Changes follow:

In paragraph 14 which commences “In order to create conditions”, delete the terminal phrase “regardless of whether effected in the name of Fascism, Nazism or Communism.”

Delete in its entirely paragraph 27 which commences “The Greek King returned,” and ends “as in England.”

In paragraph 40 delete the first sentence which is “This, then, is the situation in Greece and Turkey that is upon us.” Change the second sentence of paragraph 40 to read as follows: “The situation, in my opinion, requires immediate and resolute action."

Paragraph 43, which consists of the single sentence “I consider that the security of the United States demands that such funds and authority shall be made available immediately” should be deleted in its entirety.2

End of changes.

NA/RG 59 (Central Decimal File, 868.00/3–747)

1. As usual for a major presidential address, there are numerous drafts of what came to be called the "Truman Doctrine" speech. The editors have not determined the draft to which Marshall refers. Several drafts are in Dennis Merrill, ed., Documentary History of the Truman Presidency, vol. 8, The Truman Doctrine and the Beginning of the Cold War, 1947–1949 ([Bethesda, Md.]: University Publications of America, 1996, pp. 25–93).

Dean Acheson recalled that Marshall had directed his staff to proceed with preparing a presidential address "with utmost vigor and without regard for him and his [Moscow] meeting. Events had relegated that to secondary importance. The prime necessity was to save the pivotal position occupied by Greece and Turkey." The under secretary likened Marshall's instructions to a forward commander's calling down artillery fire on his own position to block an enemy advance. (Acheson, Creation, p. 220.)

Charles Bohlen, who was with Marshall in Paris, noted in his memoirs: "We received the prepared text of the President's message to Congress proposing the Truman Doctrine. The Soviet Union was not mentioned by name, but there was no question that the basic aim of the doctrine was to stop Soviet efforts to undermine the free nations through subversion. It seemed to General Marshall and to me that there was a little too much flamboyant anti-Communism in the speech. Marshall and I felt that Truman was using too much rhetoric." (Charles E. Bohlen, Witness to History, 1929–1969 [New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1973], p. 261.) Marshall's choice to head the new Policy Planning Staff, George F. Kennan, recalled that he had been "extremely unhappy" with the draft's rhetoric and "the sweeping nature of the commitments which it implied." (George F. Kennan,Memoirs, 1925-1950 [Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1967], pp. 315, 319–20.)

2. Marshall's suggestions as to wording appear to have been accepted. Bohlen noted, however, that on the bigger issue of tone, the secretary "received a reply that in the considered opinion of the executive branch, including the President, the Senate would not approve the doctrine without the emphasis on the Communist danger." (Bohlen, Witness, p. 261.) The president's "Special Message to the Congress on Greece and Turkey," delivered before a joint session on March 12, 1947, is in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President, January 1 to December 31, 1947 (Washington: GPO, 1963), pp. 176-80 (hereafter cited as Truman, Public Papers, [year]).