Presidential Papers, Doc#838 Cable. Confidential To Chiang Kai-Shek, 1 September 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #839

Document #838; September 1, 1958
To Chiang Kai-Shek
Series: EM, AWF, International Series: Formosa ; Category: Cable. Confidential
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace
Part V: Forcing the President's Hand; June 1958 to October 1958
Chapter 13: Quemoy and Matsu

 

Dear Mr. President: I have just read with great interest Ambassador Drumright’s reports of his most recent conversations with you.1 You may be assured that it is my Government’s firm unwavering policy to support the security and international prestige of the Government of the Republic of China. The military measures we have been taking and will continue to take in cooperation with your forces are all directed with that end in view.2

This message bears my warm personal regards to a leader of outstanding valor and highest principle. Sincerely yours

1 For background on the earlier crisis involving the islands immediately off the coast of the Chinese mainland see Galambos and van Ee, The Middle Way, vols. XV and XVI. On August 7 CIA Director Allen Dulles had told the National Security Council that the situation in the Taiwan Straits was "heating up." Chinese Communist air forces had moved into previously unoccupied bases on the mainland opposite the island of Quemoy, raising the possibility of an air blockade of the offshore islands. At that time Eisenhower had said there would be "no excuse for U.S. intervention" unless the activity was thought to be preliminary to an attack on Formosa. Since the threat to the islands in 1954, however, Nationalist Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek had gradually increased his forces on Quemoy and Matsu, increasing their strategic importance. As a result, Secretary Dulles now doubted whether there could be an "amputation" of the islands "without fatal consequences to Formosa itself" (NSC meeting minutes, Aug. 8, 1958, AWF/NSC; and Dulles, Memorandum of Conversation, Aug. 12, 1958, Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda Series; see also State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. XIX, China [1996], pp. 44 - 68).

The Chinese Communists had started shelling the islands on August 23 and 24, prompting the United States to deploy an aircraft carrier and five destroyers to the Far East. A subsequent letter from Chiang to Eisenhower had described intense artillery bombardments, the strafing of ground troops, and the sinking of two vessels. He asked that the United States assist him in defending the islands, provide convoy vessels to make the straits safe for shipping, and authorize Nationalist bombing of Communist artillery positions on the mainland (State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. XIX, China, pp. 83 - 86; see also Thomas J. Christensen, Useful Adversaries: Grand Strategy, Domestic Mobilization, and Sino-American Conflict, 1947 - 1958 [Princeton, 1996], pp. 194 - 96).

In an earlier cable, drafted by State Department officials, Eisenhower had told the Chinese leader that he could not offer an immediate reply because of the "magnitude and gravity of the issues involved" (Eisenhower to Chiang, Aug. 27, 1958, AWF/I: Formosa [China]; see also State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. XIX, China, pp. 89 - 96). On August 29, at a meeting with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Eisenhower had approved U.S. convoy protection for Nationalist supply ships up to the three-mile limit of coastal waters. He also approved the U.S. assumption of responsibility for the air defense of Taiwan, thus releasing Nationalist forces for defense of the islands (ibid., pp. 86 - 102; see also Goodpaster memorandums, Aug. 14, 29, 1958, AWF/D; NSC meeting minutes, Aug. 15, 22, 1958, AWF/NSC; Dulles, Memorandum of Conversation, Aug. 23, 1958; Herter, Memorandum of Conversation, Aug. 22, 1958; both in Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda Series; Telephone conversation, Eisenhower and Dulles, Aug. 22, 1958, Dulles Papers, Telephone Conversations; and Eisenhower, Waging Peace, pp. 292 - 304).

Everett F. Drumright, former Consul General in Hong Kong, had been Ambassador to the Republic of China since March 1958. He had informed the State Department that Chiang's reaction to the U.S. response to his requests was "the most violent I have ever seen him exhibit." He had called the U.S. attitude "'inhuman' and 'unfair' to his soldiers on [the] islands and destructive of public morale." Drumright had suggested that Eisenhower send a message of reassurance and support. After a meeting on the following day, Drumright reported that Chiang was "more at ease and relaxed . . . and argued his position rationally." He worried about his inactivity in the face of Communist assaults and its effect on the morale of his forces, Drumright said, but he understood U.S. reluctance to provide any basis for a Communist charge of aggression. In a telephone conversation on this same day Eisenhower had "expressed some annoyance" to Dulles over pressure from Chiang to involve the United States in this latest series of events (State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. XIX, China, pp. 107 - 8, 109 - 13).

2 Chiang would thank Eisenhower for his "positive measures of assistance." "Whatever may be their motives and objectives in launching the recent large-scale attacks," he wrote, "the Chinese Communists can be checked only by our joint demonstration of firmness in both pronouncements and actions" (Chiang to Eisenhower, Sept. 4, 1958, ibid., Microfiche Supplement no. 82). For developments see no. 844.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Cable. Confidential To Chiang Kai-Shek, 1 September 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 838. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/838.cfm

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