4 December 1950: Informing Washington

The previous memo, “Korea and the Bomb,” asked Hume Wrong, the Canadian ambassador in Washington, to present Pearson’s thoughts to the State Department. Pearson notes that the memorandum was purposely crafted without reference to Truman’s provocative 30 November statement, so that it would be read by the Americans as an independent Canadian opinion. The intentional construction of the memo on Korea implies that the Canadians hoped to quietly influence American interpretation of the Canadian position.