4FOREIGN RELATIONS, 19 5 0, VOLUME I


to make a united effort for the security and well-being of our beloved
country and to place its needs foremost in thought and ,action that
the full moral and material strength of the Nation may be readied
for the dangers which threaten us." For the full text of Proclamation
2914, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States:
Harry S. Truman, 1950, pages 746-747. Also on December 16, the
President issued Executive Order 10193, creating the Office of De-
fense Mobilization which would exercise general aathority over pro-
duction, procurement, and manpower programs. Charles E. Wilson,
President of General Electric, was appointed Director of the new
agency.
  The following events immediately preceded the Proclamation of a
National - Emergency. On the morning of December 13, President
Truman and the Secretaries of State and Defense met with a biparti-
san delegation of Congressional leaders to discuss the national emer-
gency. The statement released by the White House following the
meeting stated that there had been unanimous support for the rapid
expansion of national military strength and that the declaration of
a national emergency had been considered; for -text, see ibid., page
741. On the evening of December 15, the President delivered a radio
and television ;address to the American people, indicating his inten-
tion to declare a national emergency on the following day and out-
lining the reasons for that action; for text of the address, see ibid.,
pages 741-746.

661.00/12-1850
Memorandum by the Director of the Office of Chinese Affairs (Clubb)
to the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Rusk)'

TOP SCERIT                      [WASHINGTON,] December 18, 1950.
Subject: Estimates of Moscow-Peiping Time-Table for War
Ref: CA Memorandum July 12, 1950 "Korea and Overall World
    Situation" 2
  Defense chiefs are reported* to have advised Congress that total
mobilization is not advisable now, but only "limited" expansion,
in
view of the inability of the military establishment economically to
absorb "these sums of money and these accretions of personnel".

  Copies of this memorandum were transmitted to Depu'ty Under Secretary of
State Matthews, to John Paton Davies of the Policy Planning Staff, and to
the
component offices of the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs.
  ' Notprinted.
  Washington Post, December 15, 1950, p. 2, "Pentagon Opposes Full Mobiliza-
tion Now." [Footnote in the source text. For information on the hearings
under
reference, see the second editorial note, page 420.]


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