Office of the Historian

845A.411/12–1753

Memorandum by Armistead Lee of the Office of British Commonwealth and Northern European Affairs

secret
[Washington,] December 17, 1953.

Summary of Attached Memorandum of Conversation1 Between Ambassador Jooste (South Africa) and Mr. Raynor, Director BNA on South African Reaction to U.S. Position on Apartheid Case in UN

During the course of the informal conversation, which was held at the Ambassador’s request, he made the following points.

1.
He feared that it would now be impossible for South Africa to participate in any future UN discussion of South African cases, including that of Southwest Africa, and would have nothing to do with UN committees or activities. He doubted, for instance, if South Africa could participate in the President’s atomic energy proposal since it would be under the aegis of the UN.
2.
He recalled South African support for various U.S. objectives in the UN this session, and mentioned two items (Puerto Rico and Forced Labor) on which he had succeeded in getting his own instructions changed to be closer to the U.S. position.
3.
This was the third year, he said, that our votes on South African items had been different from what he had been led to expect by members of our delegation (and had accordingly reported to his Government). He implied that this had placed him in a difficult position with his Government, and said that they were also beginning to question U.S. integrity.
4.
He was now asked to report on the reasons for our position, and particularly the change in our vote on the clause calling for continuation of the Apartheid Commission from negative in committee to abstention in the plenary. In his own reports, he stressed the factor of domestic U.S. politics, but his Government seemed to feel that the main factor was a desire to appease India at the expense of South Africa.
5.
In reply, I said that while our awareness of the strong feelings of India and the Arab-Asians was a consideration we must keep in mind, I personally doubted that it was a major consideration. I added, also on a personal basis, that I felt that nothing would do more to help South Africa in world opinion than to plan and announce some dramatic [Page 1030] native housing development. He said something of this sort was contemplated.
6.
Mr. Jooste kept reverting to his dismay at our position on competence and its contrast to that of almost all the NATO and older Commonwealth countries, including Canada. Although he personally still believed in continued cooperation with the UN, he appeared seriously worried about the effect on South Africa’s future attitude towards the UN and the U.S.
  1. Not printed. The conversation was held on Dec. 17, 1953. (845A.411/12–1753)↩