500.A15A4 General Committee/145: Telegram
The American Delegate (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 24—11:35 a.m.]
511. Your 281, January 21, 7 p.m.11 I have collaborated with Gibson in preparing a text which we submit to you not as the final form of a speech since this will have to be governed by the character of the debate but as the means of showing a method of approach to the problem which you may feel is appropriate in dealing with the French plan at this time.
We feel that we should speak, and fairly early in the debate, in order to avoid the curiosity and newspaper speculation as to our attitude that might be aroused by silence. Further, we feel that under present circumstances the question of our attitude towards the larger political questions raised should not be prejudiced either by acceptance or by refusal. We further feel that the emphasis of the American delegation should be properly placed upon the disarmament side of any proposal rather than the political side.
The type of statement which we suggest should enable us to avoid any pronouncement with regard to the “inner concentric circle” and to adjourn any pronouncement on the “outer concentric circle” until a more propitious time.
[Page 6]Text follows:
“Mr. President: The American delegation welcomes the advances made by the French plan toward the solution of the problems before us. These advances are of two kinds. In the first place, the plan opens up a perspective of concrete measures of reduction and envisages equality of treatment in the making of them. In the second place, it contemplates the regional organization of a system of security permitting further and greater reduction later on. We heartily welcome concrete steps in disarmament. We still hope to go much farther than the French plan contemplates, but nevertheless we welcome the advance made by one of the most heavily armed powers along these lines, and in particular note the effort to make these proposals harmonize with the plan which I had the honor to submit to the General Commission last June.
With respect to the organization of security, France has made the first proposal that accords with the order of ideas which my Government has long developed; namely, that of a regional treatment of the problem. The suggestion that the states of Europe should treat their particular difficulties in a special manner seems realistic and along the lines of common sense. That the more distant nations should each in their own areas achieve some measure of accord that would permit similar action, likewise goes without saying. On the American Continent we have already made much progress toward this end. Therefore it seems that in the discussion of the plan which the French Government has just laid before us, we will have a two-fold task—that of examining and, I hope, enlarging the list of concrete measures of disarmament which may be taken by all powers. Secondly, we will have to examine a set of regional negotiations in which those nations having common problems may consult together as to the best measures of lessening their common fears; the result of these labors may well form the basis for radical measures of disarmament.
I do not propose to offer any detailed comment on the French plan at this time. We have been summoned here in order that an opportunity might be afforded our French colleagues to lay before us the details of the working out of the theories which form the basis for the plan for which they have submitted the outlines. We look forward of course with interest to the elaboration of the document before us.
To sum up our primary interest is in the reduction of armaments. Therefore the place which America may take in any general scheme will be dependent upon the measure of reduction of armaments which that scheme will bring about”.
- Not printed; according to this instruction Mr. Gibson was “being authorized to proceed to Geneva to attend meeting of the General Commission.”↩