UNITED STATES DEFENCE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 145, 1 April 1948, Page 5

UNITED STATES DEFENCE

President Wants Peace Programme

NEW YORK, March 30. “It is learned authoritatively that President Truman proceeded on the assumption that war was neither imminent nor inevitable in projecting his new 3,000,000,000dollar additional, defence programme,” says the “New York Times.” t “When the Joint Chiefs of Staff conferred with the President on March 24 they produced estimates totalling 9,500,000,000 dollars, but the President said:*‘l want a peace programme, not a war programme.’ The Chiefs of Stall replied that 6,000,000,000 dollars was the minimum necessary to provide the strength for an initial stand against Russia in the event of war, but they ■agreed to reduce the estimates to 3,000,000,000 dollars, the figure now before Congress. “When they assembled at their secret conference at Key West, Florida, earlier in the month, the Chiefs of Staff first talked of estimates running a-s high as 22,000,000,000 dollars, but under the chairmanship of the Secretary of Defence (Mr James Forrestal) they agreed to the total of 9,500,000,000 dollars. “It is reported that Mr Truman expressed the opinion at his conference on March 24 that the 3,000,000,000-dol-lar programme, on top of the 11,000,-000,000-dollar programme previously recommended to Congress, would provide the minimum insurance against war.”