LETTER TO ALLEN DULLES FROM WILLIAM J. FLITTIE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R000500240002-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 26
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 28, 2002
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 7, 1954
• Content Type: LETTER

Approv For Release 2002/02/13: CIA-RDP8 1731 80005002400023
May 7, 1954
Hon. Allen Dulles
Director Central Intelligence Agency
WWWjashington, D. C.
Enclosed is the copy of a letter which I this
date sent Secretary of State Dulles.
If we remain on the defensive in our conflict
with WrWrorld Communism all will soon be lost.
The enclosed material contains views and ideas
personal to myself, but which I think worthy of your
consideration. I hope that you will be able to find time
to read this material.
Respectfully,
STATOTHR
WJF-ms William J.' Flittie
Mr. William J. Flittie
rte a:: ~ J 3 ~./
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MTN. K-2
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BEST COPY
Available
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I an a veterrn of '>orld
did rinthing remarkable.
II. my time of service 3
on? y servef-I ~;thin and { nit out the
country as ordered, and when the tit _= came that the war done,
I was happy to removo My uniform and become, once again, a
civili.a~#a? T was no more than a" of the many who made up the
millions.
e~s such I would now rt a , pi, 41 with a terrible urgency
within me to s. t to demrnd And eraftrs
accord ace with our American v- lue:c, a world in which ten cr n live
tl
in pew~ce and .?cency even though such th mands should have to by
3nf'erced At the cost of onh' !lore war>s wr to be fu.-ht, if ?"~ch
should prove necessary, inston Churchill. UrUor~.un tely he is saddled with convictions
of emy,ire which we do riot, most Of us, ednire, - nd h.e had wade the
, ;revt error of seemingly ? ug/-;estin thirst Americr under" ;ite ritaint s
em :xre. On these :mints his critics have succeeded admirably In
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eve not v se yet,
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debunking hi:-, entire statement. But, inst on Gburchi? rt s s epp ch at
Fulton, i tsaouri w h-- tl7 r'os' eihie tit;: L-e;,.ent by any gr*at
lender of the deri,ocr. L.a.c s,,orl: concertinz L.t,p dark rutu.r?e into Which
~k . . re prge?e inf.. ins un Chum: x.11 tees the d -n er to 4 r -ryt in
a wor l.-R over some parts of which tyrz...ry and terror at .I.l,
and
go forth iziche ~ to doagre. sicon. :he hr r;. lie cae o,z u: to face
the pro b1eri. ti.. st th. t T. ill do well to f "C-": i , s ur r ,
rto' . nd l fur?tL -r t uggo ~ th - t -=ineton Churchill's wa int
more worthy of cred+;~ lce than arc thc, uneouvincin= aY*~`- ^':F voiced
by the rrter' cer -',dmini? L:catic a..
th.a 'hurchiil' : speech '4AUT n end by ire
n.A W c nored as
the first of doom in rx World th t has not muca longer to
continue.
ho'4 many wars o. self- r~'..en E: each LIMI`Ix at f.h'? r; sk Of our
whole world, must ue have fought beforo we 1~-ran th t good will
alone in not enough?
O t t try to operate our intorrtal society
by good wi i nlone, for we as a saw er of :`*' le ama ran sense,
that t h,7 t would ui.terly f i i . e provide laws, ;end police force
to eri'oroe those iawso to keep irx-es..pnsible sul dange ?ous elements
in line. he outlaws are, .ud' will ai ys be, aceong u'. -'na just
as then' : re outlaws onE. Lis, there iil be outlaws va ion nations,
capable of rt akin untold h rrn upon tht world, for ro lone as
ri.=a: ons have -absolute sovereit.n.ty. Curb them w-., mint, very soon,
i.nd this time permanently, for we ors no. facing our last ch ,rrce.
This is the gamble with oblivion.
i do not, he ft= to to tr'me the outlr?w nrtions. h*~y are Russis,
::and to a lesser extent only tecauve? they inhere,; I:ly y.,orse a lesser
thrx, d t, stir. entina and $pr.in. Nor an I sorry they ca-n be iden';ificd,
for noaN, ttefore a general production of atomic power her tone its
trre ,arable harm we a clearly confronted with t r ecesait1 Of
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ensuring a pert neut peace. :I pr^y that we not permit our:-+clve s,
now our',suspicions are oncre 'r(:)used, to 1.crrit they: to be lulled
b'; .,~oneysd girds from cur potential reeri -? >. he lesson of
it* so close that it vot.lden we could repeml
!P4 meat, n w. stop short of a eolut.iccn =, rr". ch will euara.rte C. or?ld peace
insofar as it in ,oetible for *.n to mak :. such a srR ntee.
!j1c;' more do I hesitate ti) ii :me the essent,i.aiiy damocrt=tic $tste's
of the w'or .U th- t, through the- it insistence upon outmoded an '4 ruth-
less eurire,
rr,vely im.4 it the voic of decency and in
orid. They "-re rit? in, Franc , r z d the Dtetherlan xr , tLough
others, inci.udin;,, ourseivF s, are guilty in laser de :r? e.
lx entinr snd "paim stand convicted by the d
of
our own :overnment, a government .h t., strrn& el.y enough, refur--es
to take ; o^itive action ageinr:t then- even while ncknc~;ledgin.. their
territ:l o guilt in contributing dirt: - tl_y and indirectly to thF~ depth
of imericRn servicemen. the old men uho lead us are too Much awed
by the ancient shibboleth of n; tional sov+ reifnty, it seams. Ort
the one hand we see the guilty lt.aders of Germany and a ,tpsa on
trial. for their lives, nd on the other, hand equally guilty men
the honored le aders of netir ne. 'Somehow their decedent repsoning
exonerates any bandit or pngeter who c-:n dra about his shoulders
the peculiFxly charmed and inviolate cloak of an un4efe= ted n banal
sovereignty. In the case of vspz,in they permit a government, the
child of fascism, installed in p,=rt by the action of the outlaw
nc tions with whom we lp tely engkged in a death rtruggle, and in
part by our own criminal neg;. igance in discharging our e rld ohlig tions,
to continue to impress its will upon the unfortunptee peo >1i= of sir Pi.n.
Like J ontius < il- t,e they w;-yrh their hands after a ; ious at-, ter ent
decrying the wrong. In y~h,=t way can this cemaplet : rerudi- tion of
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intellectual honesty ,.fie rritionali' ed? I confess the t I do not
rndc-r tatnd?;
;~-t uperficitlly, Peet p the yur;Ier to n ins;tion of the i ussiv.n record must
fill one with foreboding. .the le= .,st that one can conciu'e is that
they are the actions of a nbt.ion not unwilling to have recourse
tow rf'=ire to win her ends. r nd Ince this time so much is at
sty ke, reaeona :le men cannot air ord to aoible that the record is
other than what it seems-the record of aggressor, the record of
a breorld for which the man of
democr cy fought their longest, most terrible war. It reminds too
rt.uch of the le =.t half of the last decade when naked force strode
rro; nt tan l proud through the e= i-th brf akin,g all d? c, nc f to i Ls
iron will. It reminds too much of that which we but a short time
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ago heat to N.-r to end* In f^ct, it is the same old poison abroad
eePth once more. Only the n&mees, ere ch, ru 'i But t li..s tis3
t pry : to A ,ghty v0d that we -,? .1 not. fail. It is xdt too
yet. ii;. WJI oniy be too l to when this firstaggrersor ;I' i,ciently
armed himsc!".7 "Hitt, the of
y .{ are.
e Vp remeininf;
to 1$7' throe to five more yaarer, our V';cit.fti'_ts tell UU
Then, if
e have f'lai.l.d, it 1=:i11 be too late. The era of our wor d,
underrt nd it, will be upon us -uch little fu tirr as may'
us will be at the sufi'er* =e Oaf our enemies. Our oril , h oipe.
as we
emain to
will
be t::h irrtprobslile r~ pp th t ornic w ,a! alus, will nor:`} :o,,. not be
used.
br haiare lincoln, in his life, gate voice to two grea=t tr?;.::is:rs:
nr ti on divided geinat Itself cannot strind." end'This nr tiof
cannot exist half sl,-ve and half True of the ri&ti.of in
Lincoln'r, d y, it r ? uir i.s point
for = .rte will be eru erican creeti on, for at t1 s '..pint in the
Approver Kerease LUUL/UL/"I.i : l.IA-KUrour (iir UUUODUL4UUUL-3
? 16. 0
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4Artorg 8see.*d or Ulf we ere, ss no ot.hor nat
been, the Pr. biter of deetis '
.lee l.a s`.
UNI~pp++~~+ ;:i " .i ! OF
k PRI L, 1966
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May 7, 1954
on1.~ J}'a n llj { Dulles
~.,, eci eWYrri of , 11e
Pshinfton, 1.
near qtr. Dulles:
The conduct of mcrican fore.J,n relations, and th? ob-
?a~tr4rt .4Nf neCeSF`?ry supporting ng milir.propera dons to tut teeth
into it is ,dmittedly very diffieait. Too little and too lrte is
the dismal record of our country ever since Theodore Roosevelt's,_
A"dministrat1On. It seemingly mz:t,. ere not th"'?t more die and Buff r
in tho long run, or more important, that. we may even lose our free-
dom one day because of the reluctance to act positively which is
thou .ht to be demanded by political con ;iderstions. the very short
range view is favored, and particularly since the end of World
II has been a hestiy, murderous failure, now promising more death
t-nd dortruction than the world has thus far seen.
I doubt that you can break this vicious circle. I doubt,
too, that the Lisenhower Administration has any real inclination
to trek it, though now Inc tt,en you utter word` wYich v.ould seat
to indi.ch to some effort to hrenk the complacent attitude of our
people. It i-1 because 1, think that there is a small chance that
you do not redly bclieve in buying; today's peace at the price of
all the tomorrows, forever, that I am writing this 1et'.er.
In my opinion there remain tut two real chcncesof
svoidin&,,; total ,:P r, completely destructive to the United "tate$
and world vivili?Rtion.
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hon. .loh ' or er .i e
5-7
e
.54
It i : nonsense to ossunea in the , -nt framework army
way, Stitat the were eX.iQtence of,, bydz'o n -,nd at .ic weapons is WANS
h,ndt of bh potcntial enemies increases the it:elihood of Pence.
In fact,
return the
rdy window dreerinj; to the contrary, this situ`tion
:ntaie to the Comriutyist$ ,.weir analysis of `mericpn
olicy Is that we will not use thelze weans unless com;tell$d to do
so by di et att ck on ourselves or possibly some one ?f the
estarn kouraT,,fim nr-,tiona. (I might add that I think t1 s "nalysie
correct myself, though I hope that I as wronj.) This lepvvs them
free to continue a. xession in terms of their superiority in
nusnbern of men and conventional -, .-'pons throughout most of tho
rurasisn if nd ease, with early opportunity to soon expand into the
rest of the world.
In s -rrt, they will nibble us to d. th until one day we,
wake up and find we have lost: our world by default. Then, perhaps,
in a vl.olent revulsion at our own mistake we will use thee. weapons,
but it. will be too late. Ye will htve lost the world by attrition
or will lose it in holocaust. tether way freedom perishes.
Communism is of-,P-in pre sing hard, this time in Southeast
sir, and so soon after the Korean conflict that we had just
well rc' li?,e that in terms of ob-joC:tives we were the losers in
Korea.
Pothr,resident lisenhower and yourself have said we must
hold Indo-china.
All riht, let us hold. 'nd with or without allies, let
us end this sham of petty peripheral k.ars and throw down the aunt-
let to China (a nation not as yet in possession of atomic wet ons),
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ikon. John Foster .C uiles -.3..
-7-54
which they All surely acc ex t, for the acre 1016 to f,-,r comitiit
to back dc'-n. But, instead o fiphtin pother foci i sh lit
n Indo-C hirsp, lr t us prornp ri expend military act e* to r Ina
pro;;>r and proceed
use in full the wc.;!pone of ssr-astiv4, r~!u8lietion
until the Chi*.sse Com :uniste cry quarter on our terms. #h.n the
world will hive a concrete exile of ::mai~.p n massive retal.iation#
and no one will. =ny longer .e ri:Ie to indulge thw g sssur,,ptiof that
we wO*'t use the terrible new appponss. Ogr foreign policy will have
teeth inste of bluster, and perhaps, 4ith such a tsrrrihie; example
before tl~a~ the Russian Co uniste will never etart s world wart
I am aware that mf .lions of Chinese v;i l suffer :684 c ie
if, w* do this thing. But if we don't do it, it will ,ye*tuoll.Y
be even more millions of innocent people, who moreover, Pre not
as yet the enssl ved tools of Corunism. ,nd millions of thew
millions will be Americanso
she Chinese people h