For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 58 382ST 09/96 53-005-00 COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THOMAS E. MORGAN, Pennsylvania, Chairman CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI, Wisconsin L. H. FOUNTAIN, North Carolina DONALD W. RIEGLE, JR., Michigan CARDISS COLLINS, Illinois GERRY E. STUDDS, Massachusetts WILLIAM S. BROOMFIELD, Michigan BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York ROBERT J. LAGOMARSINO, California MARIAN A. CZARNECKI, Chief of Staff (II) Foreword 22 This is the seventh in a series of volumes based on transcripts of hearings in executive sessions of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (now the Committee on International Relations) during the period 1943-50 and dealing with subjects of historical interest. As I indicated in the foreword to the series as a whole (which appears in volume I), the committee feels these volumes will help in the commemoration of our Nation's bicentennial. Congress determined our foreign policy in the country's early years, and throughout our history has continued to play an important role in foreign affairs and international relations. It is likely that this role will increase as global interdependence in economic, technological, and other fields requires more consideration of the best ways to manage resources for the benefit of our Nation as well as the world and to preserve our national welfare. This and the following volume present hearings related to U.S. policy in the Far East. In this volume are hearings on military assistance to the Philippines, held as the former island dependency of the United States was about to become independent. There are also hearings on U.S. policy toward China, which was being torn by civil war between the Communist forces and those of the Nationalists. The final hearing in this volume is a briefing to the committee on the fall of China to the Communists, by the Commander of the American military assistance group there in 1948-49. Except for the correction of typographical errors and the insertion of appropriate subheads, the hearings printed in this volume are published in complete form, as they were taken down at the time. In accordance with the committee's procedures, former members have given their permission for publication of these hearings, and the Department of State has indicated that it has no objection to their release from the standpoint of foreign policy. THOMAS E. MORGAN, Chairman, Committee on International Relations. |