National Affairs: Time for a Treaty?

• Share

The long, quiet debate between the State Department and the armed services over a peace treaty with Japan was coming to a head. Defense Secretary Louis Johnson and General Omar Bradley announced that they would fly to Tokyo this month to see what Occupation Commander Douglas MacArthur had to say on the subject. At about the same time the State Department's Republican Adviser John Foster Dulles will also arrive in Japan to check his own ideas on the spot.

The State Department has long urged a treaty; the Pentagon wants to go as long as possible without one, thus keeping U.S. occupation troops in Japan. One possible compromise: a peace conference with the U.S.'s allies (allowing Russia no veto), backed by a collateral agreement to maintain U.S. military bases at strategic locations away from the big cities after the occupation troops have sailed for home.