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Papers of Harry S. Truman
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August 19, 1948, the 18th meeting of the National Security Council. Left to Right, clockwise: Cornelius V. Whitney, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force; Kenneth C. Royall, Secretary of the Army; Sidney W. Souers, Executive Secretary of the National Security Council; Arthur M. Hill, Chairman, National Security Resources Board; Rear Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, Director of Central Intelligence; Major General Alfred M. Gruenther, Director, Joint Staff, Joint Chiefs of Staff; unidentified, possibly Robert Blum, Office of the Secretary of Defense; James V. Forrestal, Secretary of Defense; George C. Marshall, Secretary of State; President Harry S. Truman; and W. John Kenney, Under Secretary of the Navy. Photo: Abbie Rowe, U.S. Park Service Photographer. Source: Truman Library Collection. |
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The National Security Council File contains documentation of the work preformed by that agency from its founding in July, 1947 through the end of the Truman administration in January, 1953. This file, found in the custody of the Central Intelligence Agency about 1980, was transferred to the Truman Library in 1981. Apparently, it is the office file of the small permanent National Security Council staff located in Truman's White House Office. It is comprised of five series: one containing copies of Central Intelligence Agency documents; one containing National Security Council Determinations with respect to U.S. policy toward foreign nations' trade with Communist nations; a chronological file of outgoing National Security Council correspondence; a set of bound volumes entitled "Policies of the United States of America Relating to the National Security;" and a subject file arranged in alphabetical order. Many of the documents in this file are also located in the National Security Council series of the President's Secretary's Files.
Size: 5.2
linear feet (ca. 10,400 pages)
Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List | Appendix]
The National Security Council (NSC) was established by the National Security Act of 1947 (Public Law 80 - 253, 61 Stat. 496; 50 U.S.C. 401, et seq.), which was approved on July 26, 1947, as amended by the National Security Act Amendments of 1949 (63 Stat. 579; 50 U.S.C. 401 et seq.). This legislation also provided for a Secretary of Defense, a National Military Establishment, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Resources Board. The NSC, which was created under the chairmanship of the President, was composed of the following seven permanent members: the President; the Secretaries of State, Defense, the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force; and the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board. The President was authorized to designate "from time to time" the Secretaries of other executive departments and the Chairmen of the Munitions Board and the Research and Development Board to attend meetings of the NSC. Additionally, the Director of the new Central Intelligence Agency was to report to the NSC, and he attended meetings as an observer and resident adviser, but he was not a member of the NSC. Later, as part of the Amendments Act of 1949, the three service were removed from the NSC, while the Vice-President was added as a member, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was added as an advisor. At this same time, the NSC was placed in the Executive Office of the President. Originally, the NSC Staff was to be headed by a civilian Executive Secretary, appointed by the President, with only one other professional staff member, an Assistant to the Executive Secretary. Additional top staff members were to be consultants detailed from the three armed services and the State Department. Eventually, these consultants came to be members of the Senior Staff Group, acting as designated agency representatives. There were only two NSC Executive Secretaries during the Truman administration. Admiral Sidney W. Souers served as the first Executive Secretary from September, 1947, until January, 1950, at which time he was succeeded by his assistant, James S. Lay, Jr., who served until Truman left office in January, 1953. The NSC is the President's principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and cabinet officials. Its function is to advise the President with respect to the integration of domestic, foreign, and military policies relating to the national security. The NSC also serves as the President's principal arm for coordinating these policies among various government departments and agencies in matters involving the national security. The duties of the NSC are to assess and appraise the objectives, commitments, and risks of the United States in relation to actual and potential military power, for the purpose of making recommendations to the President, with respect to foreign policy and national security. [The Appendix contains a chronology of significant foreign policy events that took place during Harry S. Truman's presidency (1945-1953)]. The NSC also considers policies on matters of common interest to the departments and agencies of the Government concerned with the national security, and makes recommendations to the President. [For further information regarding the establishment and workings of the National Security Council, the reader may refer to the NSC's History of the National Security Council, 1947 - 1997].
Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List | Appendix ]
Among the significant documents in this collection, the Central Intelligence Agency File contains copies of intelligence reports and other memoranda prepared for the President; these include daily bulletins reporting on the situation in Korea from 1950 to 1953. Also in this series are memoranda for the Director of Central Intelligence and other officials, dealing with Cold War trouble spots and other national security concerns. The National Security Council Determinations File contains memoranda regarding implementation by the NSC of Section 1302 of the Third Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1951, which required countries receiving economic or financial assistance from the United States to certify that they were not exporting specified commodities to Soviet Bloc countries. A number of nations receiving U.S. aid, including India, Ireland, Israel, Egypt, Germany, Japan, and various NATO allies, are among the subjects of these memoranda. The Chronological File contains copies of NSC staff correspondence regarding personnel and organizational matters, public and governmental inquiries and arrangements for NSC meetings. Included in this series are drafts of proposed resolutions and directives relating to covert activities and other matters. The Policies of the United States of America Relating to the National Security contains five bound volumes of policy position papers relating to various countries (as approved by the President upon the advice of the NSC or as noted by the NSC), as well as papers pertaining to actions by the President and the NSC, NSC organization and procedures, and intelligence matters. As of January 4, 2001, all but the second bound volume in the Policies of the United States series are still classified. The Subject File contains memoranda and reports on various foreign policy and national security issues. Included are reports by the Air Intelligence Division; materials relating to atomic energy; CIA comments on the Gray Report, which dealt with the Psychological Strategy Board; materials pertaining to the Committee on National Security Organization; and staff reports on Palestine. The various series within the NSC File are arranged as follows: the Central Intelligence Agency File is arranged alphabetically by folder title, with similarly titled folders further arranged chronologically; the National Security Council Determinations are arranged numerically (#1-22); the Chronological File is arranged as it name suggests, the Policies of the United States File is arranged chronologically by numeric volumes; and the Subject File is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Other manuscript holdings at the Truman Library that relate to this collection include the following files in the Harry S. Truman Papers:
President's Secretary's Files: Subject File: National Security Council-Atomic President's Secretary's Files: Subject File: National Security Council-Meetings President's Secretary's Files: Intelligence File White House Central Files: Official File: OF 1290 White House Central Files: Confidential File: Box 27 Staff Member and Office Files: Psychological Strategy Board Files Also relevant are the personal papers of S. Everett Gleason, Frank N. Roberts, and Sidney W. Souers, as well as the following transcripts of oral history interviews at the Truman Library, which include discussions of aspects of the National Security Council:
Brandt, Raymond P., Oral History Interview No. 110 Clifford, Clark, Oral History Interview No. 276 Elsey, George M., Oral History Interview No. 128 Gray, Gordon, Oral History Interview No. 167 Larkin, Felix, Oral History Interview No. 392 Lawton, F. J., Oral History Interview No. 10 Livermore, Dr. Shaw, Oral History Interview No. 142 McNiel, Wilfred J., Oral History Interview No. 392 Murphy, Charles S., Oral History Interview No. 65 Ohly, John H., Oral History Interview No. 379 Symington, Stuart, Oral History Interview No. 374 Tannenwald, Theodore, Jr., Oral History Interview No. 49 Truman White House: Murphy, Neustadt, Stowe, Webb, Oral History Interview No. 385
| Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List | Appendix ] |
| Container Nos. | Series | |
| 1 - 4 | CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY FILE, 1947-1951 | |
| Copies of Daily Digest of Significant Traffic (Office of Current Intelligence); distribution list for Daily Digest; notebooks recording receipt and destruction dates of Daily Digests by NSC; intelligence memoranda; memoranda for NSC Director regarding NSC functions, CIA directives, and other intelligence issues; memoranda for the President regarding the early Cold War hotspots (including the rise of the Soviet Bloc and the Korean situation); Daily Korean Summaries/Bulletins; Office of Reports and Estimates memoranda on foreign policy hotspots (such as U.S. withdrawal from Mainland China, Iran, and the Philippines); Special Evaluations analysis papers on various national security topics (including Soviet/Communist influence in various countries, the strength of the Chinese Nationalist government, Soviet objectives in the United Nations, CIA Security Regulations, and Status Reports from the Office of Reports and Estimates). Arranged alphabetically by folder title, with similarly titled folders further arranged chronologically | ||
| 5 - 6 | NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL DETERMINATIONS, 1951 | |
| Copies of National Security Determinations Memoranda with respect to implementation by NSC of Section 1302 of the Third Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1951 (which required countries receiving U.S. economic/financial assistance to certify that they were not exporting specified commodities, such as arms, to Soviet Bloc countries), arranged numerically (by country/countries involved in particular determination). Arranged numerically by Memoranda number (#1-22). | ||
| 7 - 9 | CHRONOLOGICAL FILE, 1947-1953 | |
| Copies of NSC staff correspondence regarding response to public inquiries (potential employment, NSC functions, recommendations for an independent intelligence agency, requests for statement on Nation's primary security, i.e. as "faith in God"), office operations (budget estimates, personnel requirements, office assignments, security clearances, supplies and equipment), notification to NSC members of scheduling/canceling of meetings, governmental inquiries (congressional, executive agency, military), transmittals (for memos, briefs, resolutions, sent to others), acknowledgements (for memos, briefs, received from others), requests for action recommendations by members of NSC regarding NSC proposals, and copies of NSC staff memoranda regarding NSC staffing, NSC organization, international security briefs, agendas for NSC meetings, Hoover Commission Report on Foreign Affairs, proposed/draft resolutions and directives (on covert activities), policy recommendations, and NSC staff actions to facilitate orderly transition to new administration. Arranged chronologically. | ||
| 10 - 11 | POLICIES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RELATING TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY FILE, 1947-1952 | |
| Hard bound volumes containing copies of policy position papers of U.S. with respect to various countries (as approved by the President upon the advice of the NSC or as noted by the NSC), other actions taken by the President or the NSC, organization and procedures of the NSC, intelligence, all published chronologically, plus chronological list of NSC policies and list of status of (then) current policies with respect to national security matters. Arranged chronologically by numeric volumes. | ||
| 12 - 13 | SUBJECT FILE, 1947-1952 | |
| Copies of memoranda and reports on various foreign policy issues (such as Air Intelligence Division Studies, Atomic Energy Policies, Central Intelligence Agency comments on the Gray Report on the Psychological Strategy Board, Committee on National Security Organizations, and Palestine). Arranged alphabetically by folder title. | ||
| Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List | Appendix ]
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Box 1
Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List | Appendix ]
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APPENDIX
CHRONOLOGY OF FOREIGN POLICY EVENTS DURING HARRY S. TRUMAN'S PRESIDENCY 1945 - 1953 |
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| 1945 | 12 April: | Sworn in as thirty-third president of the United States upon the death of President Roosevelt. | |
| 25 April: | Delivered radio address from Washington, DC, opening United Nations conference being held in San Francisco to create the charter for a new, permanent world organization. | ||
| 08 May: | Announced the end of the war in Europe over radio at 9 am (V-E Day). | ||
| 26 June: | Delivered address at the closing session of the U.N. Charter Conference in San Francisco. | ||
| 17
July - 2 August: |
Attended conference at Potsdam, Germany to discuss post-war treatment of Germany with Premier Joseph Stalin of Russia and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain, latter being replaced by Prime Minister Clement Attlee on 29 July. | ||
| 06 August: | Announced dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan by a B-29 bomber of the U.S. Army Air Force. (Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August.) | ||
| 14 August: | Announced end of war with Japan at press conference held at 7 p.m. (V-J Day). | ||
| 23 October: | Delivered message to Congress calling for enactment of a peace-time universal military training program. | ||
| 15 November: | Issued joint statement in Washington with Prime Ministers Clement Attlee of Great Britain and Mackenzie King of Canada calling for a U.N. Atomic Energy Commission. | ||
| 1946 | 15 July: | Signed bill authorizing loan of $3.75 billion to Great Britain. | |
| 20 September: | Requested the resignation of Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace as a result of a speech delivered by Wallace on 12 September criticizing Secretary of State James F. Byrnes and U.S. policy toward Russia. Wallace was replaced by W. Averell Harriman. | ||
| 31 December: | Signed proclamation declaring end of hostilities for world War II. | ||
| 1947 | 07 January: | Accepted resignation of Byrnes as secretary of state. | |
| 21 January: | Sworn in as new secretary of state was General George C. Marshall, World War II chief of staff of the U.S. Army. | ||
| 22 January: | Asked former President Herbert Hoover to undertake mission to study critical food problems in Central Europe and make recommendations for its solution. | ||
| 03 March: | Arrived in Mexico on a state visit. Reaffirmed his predecessor's Good Neighbor Policy. | ||
| 12 March: | Requested appropriation for $400 million before a joint session of Congress to fight the spread of communism in Greece and Turkey (Truman Doctrine). The doctrine received the backing of most of the Republican members of Congress in accordance with the bipartisan foreign policy which was in effect during most of the Truman administration. | ||
| 22 May: | Approved bill providing $400 million in assistance to Greece and Turkey. | ||
| 11 June: | Addressed Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, outlining U.S. foreign policy. | ||
| 14 June: | Signed peace treaty ratifications with Italy, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. | ||
| 26 July: | Signed National Security Act of 1947 unifying the armed forces in one department, a measure long advocated by him. Appointed James V. Forrestal as first secretary of the unified National Military Established (later realigned as Department of Defense). Act also established the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council. | ||
| 02 September: | Addressed final session of Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security. Treaty of Rio de Janeiro signed. | ||
| 1948 | 03 April: | Signed Foreign Assistance Act of 1948 creating European Recovery Program (ERP) to implement the Marshall Plan for U.S. aid to European recovery. Economic Cooperation Administration established to administer program. | |
| 26 June: | Ordered Berlin airlift, in conjunction with the British, in answer to Russian blockade of the portion of that city occupied by the Western powers. Blockade lasted until 12 May 1949. | ||
| 02 November: | Elected to second term as president contrary to the forecasts of newspapers and poll takers, who had almost unanimously predicted his defeat. | ||
| 1949 | 20 January: | Marshall resigned as secretary of state. Dean Acheson succeeded him on 21 January. | |
| 20 January: | Inaugurated for second term. In inaugural address, called for "bold new program" to help underprivileged peoples of the earth (Point IV Program). | ||
| 06 June: | Signed executive order establishing office of U.S. High Commissioner in Germany as step in replacing army supervision with civilian control in that country. | ||
| 10 August: | Signed National Security Act Amendment, establishing a unified Department of Defense. | ||
| 24 August: | Proclaimed the North Atlantic Pact, which had been signed by twelve nations in Washington on 4 April, to be in effect. Implementation of pact entrusted to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). On 19 December 1950 Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed commander of the combined forces, being designated Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. | ||
| 23 September: | Announced that there was evidence of a Russian atomic explosion. | ||
| 06 October: | Signed Mutual Defense Assistance Act authorizing appropriation of funds for military assistance to nations signing the North Atlantic Pact. | ||
| 1950 | 31 January: | Revealed that he had ordered the Atomic Energy Commission to develop the hydrogen bomb. | |
| 26 June: | Ordered U.S. air and sea forces to aid South Korean Troops in resisting the Communist forces of North Korea which had invaded South Korea the day before. | ||
| 30 June: | Announced that he had ordered American ground forces in Japan to Korea and the navy to blockade the Korean coast. The president's Korean policy was backed by the U.N. Security Council. General Douglas MacArthur, the American commander in Japan, was put in charge of all U.N. troops in the area, which included forces from other nations. | ||
| 19 July: | Sent message to Congress asking for supplemental appropriation to support the Korean police action and for measures to control the country's economy. | ||
| 12 September: | Accepted resignation of Louis A. Johnson as secretary of defense. Johnson succeeded by General George C. Marshall on 21 September. | ||
| 15 October: | Conferred with MacArthur on Wake Island concerning Far Eastern policy. | ||
| 16 December: | Proclaimed state of national emergency following entry of Communist China into the Korean conflict on 6 November, after U.N. forces had taken over most of North Korea. | ||
| 1951 | 11 January: | Appointed mission headed by John Foster Dulles to go to Japan to confer with MacArthur and Japanese leaders in regard to a Japanese peace treaty. Treaty signed in San Francisco on 8 September by delegates from forty-eight countries, Russia and her satellites refusing to participate. | |
| 26 March: | Opened fourth meeting of the foreign ministers of the twenty-one American republics in Constitution Hall, Washington, DC. | ||
| 11 April: | Relieved MacArthur of all posts as commander of American and U.N. forces in the Far East for making statements critical of the government's military and foreign policies in that area. MacArthur replaced by Lt. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway. | ||
| 15 June: | Signed India Emergency Food Aid Act, lending $190 million to India to buy up to two million tons of grain. | ||
| 01 August: | Proclaimed suspension of tariff reductions for Soviet Russia, People's Republic of China, and other Communist countries. | ||
| 10 October: | Signed Mutual Security Act authorizing $7,483,100,000 for foreign economic, military, and technical aid and establishing the Mutual Security Agency. | ||
| 24 October: | Proclaimed state of war with Germany to be officially at an end as of 19 October. | ||
| 1952 | 5 - 9 January: | Conferred at Washington with Winston Churchill, recently reelected prime minister of Great Britain, and other British and American officials, concerning common problems in Europe and the Middle and Far East. | |
| 29 March: | Announced at Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner decision not to run for reelection. | ||
| 15 April: | Signed ratification of peace treaty with Japan and defense treaties with Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. | ||
| 14 June: | Laid keel of the USS Nautilus, world's first atomic powered submarine, at Groton, Connecticut. | ||
| 1953 | 20 January: | Attended inauguration of President Eisenhower and then left by train for Independence, Missouri. | |
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Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List | Appendix ]
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