628             FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1950, VOLUME I
S/S-NSC Files: Lot .63D351: NSC 56 Series
      Report by the National Security Council to the President'
TOP SECRET                                WASHINGTON, May 18, 1950.

NSC 56/2
   UNITED STATES POLICY TOWARD INTER-AMERICAN COLLABORATION

                            THE PROBLEM
   1. To determine the policies of the United States with respect to
military collaboration among the American states.

                               ANALYSIS
Background of the Present Situation
  2. In World War II the United States was required to divert from
the main offensive effort to the security of the Caribbean, 'Central
and South American areas a force at one time totaling about 130,000
men with their equipment. Because of antiquated military methods,
European military influences, lack of "modern equipment and know-
how, the Latin American countries, with only one major exception,
were unable to make any contribution to Western Hemisphere de-
fense. In the event of a third world war, the military tasks of the
United States would be facilitated if a repetition of this situation
could be avoided. Recognizing this, the United States has since 1945
made various efforts to establish a practicable basis for more effective
inter-American military collaboration.
   3. In July 1945, the President approved a statement 2 enunciating
policies and principles to be followed by the United States in the
interests of collective hemisphere defense. This statement provided
that the United States insofar as possible should:
  a. Establish U.S. 'military training missions in the other American
republics.
   b. Provide training in the United States for Latin American mili-
tary personnel.

  NSC 56/1 was the penultimate draft of April 27, 1950, not printed. (S/S-NSC
Files: Lot 63D351: NSC 56 Series) In a note of May 18, 1950, James S. Lay,
Jr.,
Executive Secretary of the NSC, said in part that the NSO and the Acting
Secre-
tary of the Treasury had that day adopted NSC 56/2. (S/S-NSC Files: Lot
63D351: NSC 56 Series) In a memorandum of May 19 for the NSC, Mr. Lay
stated that the President on the same day had approved the Conclusions con-
tained in NSC 56/2 and directed their implementation by all appropriate execu-
tive departments and agencies of the U.S. Government under the coordination
of the Secretary of State. (S/S-NSC Files: Lot 63D351: NSC 56 Series)
  2 Reference is apparently to SWNCC 4/10, July 7, 1945, "Statement
of Policy
Governing the Provision by the United States of Indoctrination, Training
and
Equipment for the Armed Forces of the Other American Republics," approved
by President Tr~uman on July 29, 1945. For text, see Foreign Relations, 1945,
vol.
Ix, pp. 251-254.