DEPARTMENT OF STATE Memorandum of Conversation
Date: February 17, 1950
Subject: Tibet
Participants: The Secretary of State Mr. Lowell, Thomas, U.S. News Commentator Mr. Sprouse, CA
Copies to: S,G,R, S/P, FE, SOA, CA, Embassy, New Delhi
Mr. Thomas called by appointment today and, after an exchange of courtesies, explained that one of the chief reasons for his call was to express his very warm appreciation of the assistance extended to him by the Embassy at New Delhi at the time of his accident and injury in traveling through the Himalayas en route from Lhasa to India. He expressed particular appreciation of the assistance given by the nurse from the Embassy and was very complimentary of Mr. Jefferson Jones, First Secretary of Embassy at New Delhi.
Mr. Thomas then referred to his earlier conversation with the President and said that he had come out of Tibet with two ideas, which he had expressed to the President and which the latter had seemed to think worthwhile and of interest to me. I said that I would welcome an expression of his views and was certain that the President had not been merely polite in saying that his ideas about Tibet were of interest and value. Mr. Thomas then explained his two ideas as follows:
1. Mr. Hugh Richardson, a British subject and former British civil servant, had stayed on at Lhasa at the request of the Indian Government in order to train an Indian official as his successor. Mr. Richardson was due to complete this task in the late spring or early summer and would then leave Lhasa. He had informed Mr. Thomas that he was interested in coming to the United States and lecturing on Tibetan matters in American universities. Mr. Thomas considered him to be a man of outstanding ability and character and considered that it would be desirable to do everything possible to bring Mr. Richardson to this country. Following his return to the United States, Mr. Thomas had written to various American universities and had suggested the possibility of obtaining the services of Mr. Richardson.
2. In view of the importance of Tibet, both from the standpoint of its being the religious center of the Mongols of Central Asia and because of its geographical location bordering India and Pakistan, it was desirable that the United States be kept informed of developments in that area and that all encouragement possible be given to the Tibetans to resist Communist control. Knowledge of Tibetan developments was scanty and it would be desirable to send a mission, headed by a younger edition of General Wedemeyer, to Tibet to see what could be done and what the situation was. The terrain was admirably suited for guerrilla operations and Tibetan forces could put up strong resistance through such operations to any military force that could be sent into Tibet. He himself would be glad to give all possible assistance to the organization of such a mission and his son would be available to be a member and would be of considerable value due to his previous trip to Lhasa. Other possibilities were Max Thornburg and David Bradley, the doctor who wrote the recent published book entitled "No Place to Hide." Such a mission could be organized unobtrusively and ostensibly for the purpose of mountain climbing and could quietly assemble and go on over the barrier without too much attention being drawn to it. The Tibet assistant to the resident Indian political officer in Sikim would be a valuable addition to such a mission.
With respect to Mr. Richardson, I said that this seemed to be a good idea and that his knowledge of Tibetan affairs might be useful to us and suggested that Mr. Sprouse look into this matter to see what could be done. Mr. Sprouse said that he and other U.S. Government officials had known Mr. Richardson favorably in China during the war and that he would be glad to write to his friends on the faculties of several universities with regard to Mr. Richardson.
I pointed out that one of the difficulties of the Tibetan problem was the apparent reluctance of the Indian Government to take any positive action to encourage or assist the Tibetans and inquired of Mr. Thomas regarding the Tibetan army. He said that it would number from 10,000 to 15,000 men and that, while the Tibetans were generally described as peaceful people, he believed that given sufficient arms they would be hardy fighters. I went on to say that his suggestion of a mission seemed to have merit and that we had for some time been considering such a possibility but that a major difficulty was that of avoiding publicity which would draw Chinese Communist attention and probably serve to hasten their move against Tibet. I said that we would give further study to this question and would get in touch with him if anything developed requiring his assistance. I concluded with an expression of appreciation of his interest and his offer to be of assistance in regard to Tibetan problems.
FE:CA:PDSprouse;ah