Editorial Note
The representation of the United States at the United Nations at the beginning of 1948 was governed by the United Nations Participation Act of December 20, 1945 (59 Stat. 619). This representation consisted of a collectivity of United States officials named individually to represent the United States on the principal organs and commissions of the United Nations, and appointed by the President of the United States “by and with the advice and consent of the Senate”.
By 1948 the United States Representative at the Seat of the United Nations had become by custom and practice and then by executive order (1947) the principal United States officer at the United Nations. He was also: Chief of the United States Mission to the United Nations (USUN); United States Representative on the Security Council; Senior United States Representative on the United States Delegation to the General Assembly, when a delegation was in existence and in the absence of the President of the United States and/or the Secretary of State; United States Representative on the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission; and United States Representative on the Commission on Conventional Armaments (of the Security Council). At the beginning of 1948 the holder of these several positions was Warren R. Austin, formerly United States Senator from Vermont, who held the personal rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
Other United States officers at the United Nations holding the rank of United States Representative included (at the beginning of 1948) the United States Representative on the Economic and Social Council, Mr. Willard R. Thorp, and the United States Representative on the Trusteeship Council, Mr. Francis B. Sayre. Members of a United States Delegation to the General Assembly (as appointed for particular sessions of the General Assembly) were designated as United States Representatives. All functioned under the United States Representative at the United Nations.
[Page 2]The 1945 Participation Act made no provision for a Deputy Representative of the United States at the United Nations. This anomalous situation was engaging the attention of the appropriate officers of the Department of State at the beginning of 1948.
At the opening of the year Ambassador Herschel V. Johnson, an officer of the Foreign Service of the United States, represented the United States at the United Nations as Deputy United States Representative on the Security Council. Ambassador Johnson was also Deputy Chief of the United States Mission to the United Nations, and in effect functioned as Acting United States Representative at the United Nations in the absence of Ambassador Austin. Also representing the United States at the Deputy Representative level were two Deputy United States Representatives on the Economic and Social Council, Messrs. Leroy D. Stinebower and Walter M. Kotschnig; and the Deputy United States Representative on the Trusteeship Council, Mr. Benjamin Gerig.
United States military representatives on the Military Staff Committee of the Security Council at this time included: Lt. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway (Army), Admiral W. K. Hewitt (Navy) and Lt. Gen. H. R. Harmon (Air Force).
For information regarding the representation of the United States on other bodies of the United Nations in 1948, and in the Specialized Agencies, see Department of State Publication 3437 (1949), United States Participation in the United Nations (Report by the President to the Congress for the Year 1948). The President was empowered by the 1945 Act to appoint such other officers of the United States to serve at the United Nations without the advice and consent of the Senate.