diff --git a/pkg/api/conversion.go b/pkg/api/conversion.go
index a43bd8f0554..ebdce3d5180 100644
--- a/pkg/api/conversion.go
+++ b/pkg/api/conversion.go
@@ -34,6 +34,14 @@ func init() {
 			out.Spec.RestartPolicy = in.RestartPolicy
 			out.Name = in.ID
 			out.UID = in.UUID
+			// TODO(dchen1107): Move this conversion to pkg/api/v1beta[123]/conversion.go
+			// along with fixing #1502
+			for i := range out.Spec.Containers {
+				ctr := &out.Spec.Containers[i]
+				if len(ctr.TerminationMessagePath) == 0 {
+					ctr.TerminationMessagePath = TerminationMessagePathDefault
+				}
+			}
 			return nil
 		},
 		func(in *BoundPod, out *ContainerManifest, s conversion.Scope) error {
@@ -43,6 +51,12 @@ func init() {
 			out.Version = "v1beta2"
 			out.ID = in.Name
 			out.UUID = in.UID
+			for i := range out.Containers {
+				ctr := &out.Containers[i]
+				if len(ctr.TerminationMessagePath) == 0 {
+					ctr.TerminationMessagePath = TerminationMessagePathDefault
+				}
+			}
 			return nil
 		},
 		func(in *ContainerManifestList, out *BoundPods, s conversion.Scope) error {
diff --git a/pkg/api/types.go b/pkg/api/types.go
index c73677a695c..10ab6221d96 100644
--- a/pkg/api/types.go
+++ b/pkg/api/types.go
@@ -121,6 +121,8 @@ const (
 	NamespaceDefault string = "default"
 	// NamespaceAll is the default argument to specify on a context when you want to list or filter resources across all namespaces
 	NamespaceAll string = ""
+	// TerminationMessagePathDefault means the default path to capture the application termination message running in a container
+	TerminationMessagePathDefault string = "/dev/termination-log"
 )
 
 // Volume represents a named volume in a pod that may be accessed by any containers in the pod.
@@ -301,6 +303,8 @@ type Container struct {
 	VolumeMounts  []VolumeMount  `json:"volumeMounts,omitempty" yaml:"volumeMounts,omitempty"`
 	LivenessProbe *LivenessProbe `json:"livenessProbe,omitempty" yaml:"livenessProbe,omitempty"`
 	Lifecycle     *Lifecycle     `json:"lifecycle,omitempty" yaml:"lifecycle,omitempty"`
+	// Optional: Defaults to /dev/termination-log
+	TerminationMessagePath string `json:"terminationMessagePath,omitempty" yaml:"terminationMessagePath,omitempty"`
 	// Optional: Default to false.
 	Privileged bool `json:"privileged,omitempty" yaml:"privileged,omitempty"`
 	// Optional: Policy for pulling images for this container
diff --git a/pkg/api/v1beta1/types.go b/pkg/api/v1beta1/types.go
index cc521dc23b5..2ae145f5b8f 100644
--- a/pkg/api/v1beta1/types.go
+++ b/pkg/api/v1beta1/types.go
@@ -256,6 +256,8 @@ type Container struct {
 	VolumeMounts  []VolumeMount  `yaml:"volumeMounts,omitempty" json:"volumeMounts,omitempty"`
 	LivenessProbe *LivenessProbe `yaml:"livenessProbe,omitempty" json:"livenessProbe,omitempty"`
 	Lifecycle     *Lifecycle     `yaml:"lifecycle,omitempty" json:"lifecycle,omitempty"`
+	// Optional: Defaults to /dev/termination-log
+	TerminationMessagePath string `yaml:"terminationMessagePath,omitempty" json:"terminationMessagePath,omitempty"`
 	// Optional: Default to false.
 	Privileged bool `json:"privileged,omitempty" yaml:"privileged,omitempty"`
 	// Optional: Policy for pulling images for this container
diff --git a/pkg/api/v1beta2/types.go b/pkg/api/v1beta2/types.go
index ffb1b7728e8..f58ae83b46b 100644
--- a/pkg/api/v1beta2/types.go
+++ b/pkg/api/v1beta2/types.go
@@ -222,6 +222,8 @@ type Container struct {
 	VolumeMounts  []VolumeMount  `yaml:"volumeMounts,omitempty" json:"volumeMounts,omitempty"`
 	LivenessProbe *LivenessProbe `yaml:"livenessProbe,omitempty" json:"livenessProbe,omitempty"`
 	Lifecycle     *Lifecycle     `yaml:"lifecycle,omitempty" json:"lifecycle,omitempty"`
+	// Optional: Defaults to /dev/termination-log
+	TerminationMessagePath string `yaml:"terminationMessagePath,omitempty" json:"terminationMessagePath,omitempty"`
 	// Optional: Default to false.
 	Privileged bool `json:"privileged,omitempty" yaml:"privileged,omitempty"`
 	// Optional: Policy for pulling images for this container
diff --git a/pkg/api/v1beta3/types.go b/pkg/api/v1beta3/types.go
index 6ce8e5ca1f1..eedd95a1fb2 100644
--- a/pkg/api/v1beta3/types.go
+++ b/pkg/api/v1beta3/types.go
@@ -334,6 +334,8 @@ type Container struct {
 	VolumeMounts  []VolumeMount  `json:"volumeMounts,omitempty" yaml:"volumeMounts,omitempty"`
 	LivenessProbe *LivenessProbe `json:"livenessProbe,omitempty" yaml:"livenessProbe,omitempty"`
 	Lifecycle     *Lifecycle     `json:"lifecycle,omitempty" yaml:"lifecycle,omitempty"`
+	// Optional: Defaults to /dev/termination-log
+	TerminationMessagePath string `json:"terminationMessagePath,omitempty" yaml:"terminationMessagePath,omitempty"`
 	// Optional: Default to false.
 	Privileged bool `json:"privileged,omitempty" yaml:"privileged,omitempty"`
 	// Optional: Policy for pulling images for this container
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/config/file_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/config/file_test.go
index f34073a69e2..bf6d6584955 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/config/file_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/config/file_test.go
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ func ExampleManifestAndPod(id string) (api.ContainerManifest, api.BoundPod) {
 			{
 				Name:  "c" + id,
 				Image: "foo",
+				TerminationMessagePath: "/somepath",
 			},
 		},
 		Volumes: []api.Volume{
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ func ExampleManifestAndPod(id string) (api.ContainerManifest, api.BoundPod) {
 				{
 					Name:  "c" + id,
 					Image: "foo",
+					TerminationMessagePath: "/somepath",
 				},
 			},
 			Volumes: []api.Volume{
@@ -124,7 +126,7 @@ func TestReadFromFile(t *testing.T) {
 				Namespace: "default",
 			},
 			Spec: api.PodSpec{
-				Containers: []api.Container{{Image: "test/image"}},
+				Containers: []api.Container{{Image: "test/image", TerminationMessagePath: "/dev/termination-log"}},
 			},
 		})
 		if !reflect.DeepEqual(expected, update) {
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/config/http_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/config/http_test.go
index 7071f53dcc3..525d2020af9 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/config/http_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/config/http_test.go
@@ -146,14 +146,24 @@ func TestExtractFromHTTP(t *testing.T) {
 						Name:      "1",
 						Namespace: "default",
 					},
-					Spec: api.PodSpec{Containers: []api.Container{{Name: "1", Image: "foo"}}},
+					Spec: api.PodSpec{
+						Containers: []api.Container{{
+							Name:  "1",
+							Image: "foo",
+							TerminationMessagePath: "/dev/termination-log"}},
+					},
 				},
 				api.BoundPod{
 					ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{
 						Name:      "bar",
 						Namespace: "default",
 					},
-					Spec: api.PodSpec{Containers: []api.Container{{Name: "1", Image: "foo"}}},
+					Spec: api.PodSpec{
+						Containers: []api.Container{{
+							Name:  "1",
+							Image: "foo",
+							TerminationMessagePath: "/dev/termination-log"}},
+					},
 				}),
 		},
 		{