December 1, 1950
To the Congress of the United States:
I am today transmitting to the Congress a request for additional funds to strengthen our defenses. The gravity of the world situation requires that these funds be made available with the utmost speed.
I am recommending additional appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year 1951 in the amount of 16.8 billion dollars. These funds are needed to support our part in the United Nations military action in Korea, and to increase the size and readiness of our armed forces should action become necessary in other parts of the world.
Together with the funds appropriated in the General Appropriation Act for fiscal year 1951, and those appropriated in the Supplemental Appropriation Act for fiscal 1951, this will make a total of 41.8 billion dollars for the United States military forces for the current fiscal year.
I am also recommending a supplemental appropriation for the Atomic Energy Commission in the amount of $1,050,000,000. These funds will enable the Commission to enlarge its production capacity substantially. The new facilities will provide larger capacity for the production of fissionable materials, and for the fabrication of such materials into atomic weapons. The fissionable materials thus produced can be utilized either in weapons or as fuels for powerproducing atomic reactors. The program for building these additional facilities has been developed after thorough study over the last few months.
The further expansion of our military forces and of our atomic energy enterprise are directed toward strengthening the defenses of the United States and of the entire free world. This expansion is a matter of great urgency, which can be understood and evaluated only against the background of present critical world conditions.
United States troops are now fighting as part of the United Nations command in Korea. They are fighting for freedom and against tyranny--for law and order and against brutal aggression. The attack of the North Korean communists on their peaceful fellow-countrymen in June was in defiance of the United Nations and was an attack upon the security of peaceful nations everywhere. Their action, if unchecked, would have blasted all hope of a just and lasting peace--for if open aggression had been unopposed in Korea, it would have been an invitation to aggression elsewhere.
In that crisis, the United Nations acted, and the United States strongly supported that action--for the people of this country knew that our own freedom was as much at stake as the freedom of the Korean people. We knew that the issue was nothing less than the survival of freedom everywhere. If free men did not stand together against aggression, there could be no hope for peace. This was essentially a moral decision. We did not hesitate, even though we knew we would have to operate at the end of lengthy supply lines, and would initially be faced with overwhelming odds.
There were serious reverses at first, but the courage and skill of our men, and those of other free nations, working together under brilliant leadership, drove the aggressors back.
It soon became evident that North Koreans alone could not have prepared the kind of well-organized, well-armed attack which was launched against the Republic of Korea. As Ambassador Austin proved in the Security Council of the United Nations, the aggressors were armed with Soviet Russian weapons. From the early days of the attack, it became clear that the North Korean forces were being supplemented and armed from across the frontier. Men and equipment were coming out of these dark places which lie behind the iron curtain.
As the United Nations forces continued to defeat the aggressors and continued to advance in their mission of liberation, Chinese communist participation in the aggression became more blatant. General MacArthur, as Commander of the United Nations forces, reported to the United Nations Security Council on November 5 the proof of this participation.
Despite this outside communist aid, United Nations troops were well on the way to success in their mission of restoring peace and independence in Korea when the Chinese communists a few days ago sent their troops into action on a large scale on the side of the aggressor.
The present aggression is thus revealed as a long-calculated move to defy the United Nations and to destroy the Republic of Korea which was giving a demonstration to the peoples of Asia of the advantages of life in an independent, national, non-communist state.
The present attack on the United Nations forces by the Chinese communists is a new act of aggression--equally as naked, deliberate, and unprovoked as the earlier aggression of the North Korean communists. Cutting through the fog of communist propaganda, this fact stands unmistakably clear: the Chinese communists, without a shadow of justification, crossed the border of a neighboring country and attacked United Nations troops who were on a mission to restore peace under the direction of the organization representing mankind's best hope for freedom and justice.
The Chinese communists have acted presumably with full knowledge of the dreadful consequences their action may bring on them. The Chinese people have been engaged in fighting within their own country for years, and in the process their lands and factories have been laid waste, and their young men killed. Nothing but further misery can come to the Chinese people from the reckless course of aggression into which they have been led by the communists.
The United Nations resolutions, the statements of responsible officials in every free country, the actions of the United Nations command in Korea, all have proved beyond any possible misunderstanding that the United Nations action in Korea presented no threat to legitimate Chinese interests. The United States especially has a long history of friendship for the Chinese people and support for Chinese independence. There is no conceivable justification for the attack of the Chinese communists upon the United Nations forces.
The only explanation is that these Chinese have been misled or forced into their reckless attack--an act which can only bring tragedy to themselves--to further the imperialist designs of the Soviet Union.
Nevertheless, the Chinese communists have acted, and they must bear the responsibility for those acts. They have attacked a United Nations force composed of men from Australia, Canada, France, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The United Nations force they have attacked includes also Indian and Swedish hospital units. It is a force now being supplemented by troops from Belgium, Colombia, Greece, and Luxembourg. Fifty-three members of the United Nations are supporting this common effort to stop aggression. The Chinese communists struck at all of these countries when they started to make war against the United Nations.
The United Nations troops are defending themselves vigorously, and will do so with increasing effectiveness as their forces regroup. At Lake Success, the United Nations is now considering how best to halt this new aggression and bring to an end the fighting in Korea.
Meanwhile, two facts are clear.
First, the moral issue now is the same as it was in June. The aggression of the Chinese communists is a direct assault upon the United Nations, and upon the principles of international law and order which are its foundation. By their action, the Chinese communist leaders have proved themselves law-breakers in the community of nations. If there is to be any hope for world peace, the nations which truly want peace must stand together in opposing this new aggression, as they did in opposing the original attack from North Korea.
Second, this aggression casts a more ominous shadow over the prospects for world peace. We see no issue between the Chinese communists and the free nations, or between the Soviet Union and the free nations, which could not be honorably solved by peaceful means. We continue to stand ready in good faith to seek solutions in that way. But the Chinese communist leaders, who are known to be in close relations with the Kremlin, have not hesitated to make a large-scale assault upon United Nations troops. The leaders of communist imperialism could not help but know that this action involved grave risk of world war. Their present aggressive actions seem utterly inconsistent with any peaceful intention.
In the face of this situation, the United States and the other free nations have no choice but to increase their military strength very rapidly. As free men, dedicated to the peaceful advancement of human well-being, we have not made this choice gladly. But we have made it firmly and definitely, and we will not falter or turn back.
Prior to this new act of aggression by the Chinese communists, a supplemental estimate of appropriations for our armed forces was being prepared. This supplemental estimate, which I am transmitting to the Congress today, provides for large additional appropriations for the current fiscal year.
When the communists of North Korea brutally assaulted the Republic of Korea last June, the strength of our armed forces stood at approximately one and a half million men and women; today, five months later, the manpower strength of our armed forces has been increased by more than 50 per cent, to more than 2 and a quarter million men and women; and our goal, until this most recent act of aggression, has been a strength of 2 million 800 thousand by the end of the current fiscal year. Now, we face the necessity of having to raise our sights, both in terms of manpower and in terms of production.
This prospect makes it essential that the funds I am now requesting be made available speedily in order to build up our military strength as rapidly as possible. About 9 billion dollars of these new funds will be used for major military procurement, and to expand facilities for military production.
The appropriation request I am transmitting today is not a war budget. That would obviously require far more money.
However, the immediate appropriation of these funds will permit us to make the fastest possible progress in increasing our strength. This action will permit us to go ahead at once to step up rapidly the size of the armed forces and the rate of military training. It will permit us to go ahead at once to increase rapidly the rate of production of planes, tanks and other military equipment. At the same time, we can be going ahead with plans for such further expansion as may be necessary, and any additional funds required for that purpose can be requested when and as such plans are worked out.
These measures will put us in a position to move speedily into an increased state of mobilization if the situation grows worse. If the situation improves, we can level off the size of forces and the rate of production of military goods as may be appropriate. In any case, we must be prepared to endure a long period of tension.
I wish to emphasize again, as I have before, that the situation we are in requires from every one of us the utmost devotion and willingness to do his full part. In this critical time, the national interest is paramount, and all partisan or selfish considerations must be subordinated.
The United States is today strong and free. Whatever may come, I know the people of this country will do everything in their power to increase that strength and protect our precious freedom.
HARRY S. TRUMAN
NOTE: On January 6, 1951, the President approved the Second Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1951 (64 Stat. 1223).
The President had approved the Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1951, on September 27, 1950 (64 Stat. 1044).
For the President's statement upon signing the General Appropriation Act, see Item 234.
To the Congress of the United States:
I am today transmitting to the Congress a request for additional funds to strengthen our defenses. The gravity of the world situation requires that these funds be made available with the utmost speed.
I am recommending additional appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year 1951 in the amount of 16.8 billion dollars. These funds are needed to support our part in the United Nations military action in Korea, and to increase the size and readiness of our armed forces should action become necessary in other parts of the world.
Together with the funds appropriated in the General Appropriation Act for fiscal year 1951, and those appropriated in the Supplemental Appropriation Act for fiscal 1951, this will make a total of 41.8 billion dollars for the United States military forces for the current fiscal year.
I am also recommending a supplemental appropriation for the Atomic Energy Commission in the amount of $1,050,000,000. These funds will enable the Commission to enlarge its production capacity substantially. The new facilities will provide larger capacity for the production of fissionable materials, and for the fabrication of such materials into atomic weapons. The fissionable materials thus produced can be utilized either in weapons or as fuels for powerproducing atomic reactors. The program for building these additional facilities has been developed after thorough study over the last few months.
The further expansion of our military forces and of our atomic energy enterprise are directed toward strengthening the defenses of the United States and of the entire free world. This expansion is a matter of great urgency, which can be understood and evaluated only against the background of present critical world conditions.
United States troops are now fighting as part of the United Nations command in Korea. They are fighting for freedom and against tyranny--for law and order and against brutal aggression. The attack of the North Korean communists on their peaceful fellow-countrymen in June was in defiance of the United Nations and was an attack upon the security of peaceful nations everywhere. Their action, if unchecked, would have blasted all hope of a just and lasting peace--for if open aggression had been unopposed in Korea, it would have been an invitation to aggression elsewhere.
In that crisis, the United Nations acted, and the United States strongly supported that action--for the people of this country knew that our own freedom was as much at stake as the freedom of the Korean people. We knew that the issue was nothing less than the survival of freedom everywhere. If free men did not stand together against aggression, there could be no hope for peace. This was essentially a moral decision. We did not hesitate, even though we knew we would have to operate at the end of lengthy supply lines, and would initially be faced with overwhelming odds.
There were serious reverses at first, but the courage and skill of our men, and those of other free nations, working together under brilliant leadership, drove the aggressors back.
It soon became evident that North Koreans alone could not have prepared the kind of well-organized, well-armed attack which was launched against the Republic of Korea. As Ambassador Austin proved in the Security Council of the United Nations, the aggressors were armed with Soviet Russian weapons. From the early days of the attack, it became clear that the North Korean forces were being supplemented and armed from across the frontier. Men and equipment were coming out of these dark places which lie behind the iron curtain.
As the United Nations forces continued to defeat the aggressors and continued to advance in their mission of liberation, Chinese communist participation in the aggression became more blatant. General MacArthur, as Commander of the United Nations forces, reported to the United Nations Security Council on November 5 the proof of this participation.
Despite this outside communist aid, United Nations troops were well on the way to success in their mission of restoring peace and independence in Korea when the Chinese communists a few days ago sent their troops into action on a large scale on the side of the aggressor.
The present aggression is thus revealed as a long-calculated move to defy the United Nations and to destroy the Republic of Korea which was giving a demonstration to the peoples of Asia of the advantages of life in an independent, national, non-communist state.
The present attack on the United Nations forces by the Chinese communists is a new act of aggression--equally as naked, deliberate, and unprovoked as the earlier aggression of the North Korean communists. Cutting through the fog of communist propaganda, this fact stands unmistakably clear: the Chinese communists, without a shadow of justification, crossed the border of a neighboring country and attacked United Nations troops who were on a mission to restore peace under the direction of the organization representing mankind's best hope for freedom and justice.
The Chinese communists have acted presumably with full knowledge of the dreadful consequences their action may bring on them. The Chinese people have been engaged in fighting within their own country for years, and in the process their lands and factories have been laid waste, and their young men killed. Nothing but further misery can come to the Chinese people from the reckless course of aggression into which they have been led by the communists.
The United Nations resolutions, the statements of responsible officials in every free country, the actions of the United Nations command in Korea, all have proved beyond any possible misunderstanding that the United Nations action in Korea presented no threat to legitimate Chinese interests. The United States especially has a long history of friendship for the Chinese people and support for Chinese independence. There is no conceivable justification for the attack of the Chinese communists upon the United Nations forces.
The only explanation is that these Chinese have been misled or forced into their reckless attack--an act which can only bring tragedy to themselves--to further the imperialist designs of the Soviet Union.
Nevertheless, the Chinese communists have acted, and they must bear the responsibility for those acts. They have attacked a United Nations force composed of men from Australia, Canada, France, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The United Nations force they have attacked includes also Indian and Swedish hospital units. It is a force now being supplemented by troops from Belgium, Colombia, Greece, and Luxembourg. Fifty-three members of the United Nations are supporting this common effort to stop aggression. The Chinese communists struck at all of these countries when they started to make war against the United Nations.
The United Nations troops are defending themselves vigorously, and will do so with increasing effectiveness as their forces regroup. At Lake Success, the United Nations is now considering how best to halt this new aggression and bring to an end the fighting in Korea.
Meanwhile, two facts are clear.
First, the moral issue now is the same as it was in June. The aggression of the Chinese communists is a direct assault upon the United Nations, and upon the principles of international law and order which are its foundation. By their action, the Chinese communist leaders have proved themselves law-breakers in the community of nations. If there is to be any hope for world peace, the nations which truly want peace must stand together in opposing this new aggression, as they did in opposing the original attack from North Korea.
Second, this aggression casts a more ominous shadow over the prospects for world peace. We see no issue between the Chinese communists and the free nations, or between the Soviet Union and the free nations, which could not be honorably solved by peaceful means. We continue to stand ready in good faith to seek solutions in that way. But the Chinese communist leaders, who are known to be in close relations with the Kremlin, have not hesitated to make a large-scale assault upon United Nations troops. The leaders of communist imperialism could not help but know that this action involved grave risk of world war. Their present aggressive actions seem utterly inconsistent with any peaceful intention.
In the face of this situation, the United States and the other free nations have no choice but to increase their military strength very rapidly. As free men, dedicated to the peaceful advancement of human well-being, we have not made this choice gladly. But we have made it firmly and definitely, and we will not falter or turn back.
Prior to this new act of aggression by the Chinese communists, a supplemental estimate of appropriations for our armed forces was being prepared. This supplemental estimate, which I am transmitting to the Congress today, provides for large additional appropriations for the current fiscal year.
When the communists of North Korea brutally assaulted the Republic of Korea last June, the strength of our armed forces stood at approximately one and a half million men and women; today, five months later, the manpower strength of our armed forces has been increased by more than 50 per cent, to more than 2 and a quarter million men and women; and our goal, until this most recent act of aggression, has been a strength of 2 million 800 thousand by the end of the current fiscal year. Now, we face the necessity of having to raise our sights, both in terms of manpower and in terms of production.
This prospect makes it essential that the funds I am now requesting be made available speedily in order to build up our military strength as rapidly as possible. About 9 billion dollars of these new funds will be used for major military procurement, and to expand facilities for military production.
The appropriation request I am transmitting today is not a war budget. That would obviously require far more money.
However, the immediate appropriation of these funds will permit us to make the fastest possible progress in increasing our strength. This action will permit us to go ahead at once to step up rapidly the size of the armed forces and the rate of military training. It will permit us to go ahead at once to increase rapidly the rate of production of planes, tanks and other military equipment. At the same time, we can be going ahead with plans for such further expansion as may be necessary, and any additional funds required for that purpose can be requested when and as such plans are worked out.
These measures will put us in a position to move speedily into an increased state of mobilization if the situation grows worse. If the situation improves, we can level off the size of forces and the rate of production of military goods as may be appropriate. In any case, we must be prepared to endure a long period of tension.
I wish to emphasize again, as I have before, that the situation we are in requires from every one of us the utmost devotion and willingness to do his full part. In this critical time, the national interest is paramount, and all partisan or selfish considerations must be subordinated.
The United States is today strong and free. Whatever may come, I know the people of this country will do everything in their power to increase that strength and protect our precious freedom.
HARRY S. TRUMAN
NOTE: On January 6, 1951, the President approved the Second Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1951 (64 Stat. 1223).
The President had approved the Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1951, on September 27, 1950 (64 Stat. 1044).
For the President's statement upon signing the General Appropriation Act, see Item 234.