500.A15A4 Steering Committee/388: Telegram
The Adviser to the American Delegation to the General Disarmament Conference (Mayer) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received January 5—4:08 p.m.]
806. I have just seen Avenol20 and Aghnides21 with a view to ascertaining local opinions in regard to the next meeting of the Bureau and/or General Commission.
While prefacing any opinion by stating that it was all a matter of guesswork both of the above expressed themselves unequivocally to the effect that it was highly advisable that no date should now be fixed for such meetings, that the conversations were finally at grips with the realities and needed time, that any brusque action at present in announcing a meeting of the Bureau might well operate to impede or even to cause an abandonment of these conversations, that any meeting of the Bureau must be illusory until these conversations have been concluded, that in any event the sessions of the Council beginning on the 15th provide a neutral opportunity for the expansion of the [Page 6] various two-party discussions into multilateral conversations and that it was inconceivable that such an unwise step would be taken as to call a meeting of the Bureau at least until advantage had been taken of this opportunity for general conversations concerning disarmament problems.
There seems to be, however, a definite anxiety that on account of local English politics Henderson favors a Bureau meeting on or about the 20th and may decide to call a meeting for that date as soon as he sees Simon on the latter’s return to London. Aghnides is leaving on Sunday for London with the approval of Avenol and of Beneš22 to try to dissuade Henderson from taking such action and to urge him to come here to Geneva next week for the Council sessions.
From the above my guess is that no decision will be taken with regard to the time table of the Conference at least until the Council meets, but that during that period which is expected to last a long week there will be important discussions and possibly decisions with regard to disarmament. According to present indications these discussions will likely be concerned primarily with European political aspects of the problem. Mailed Paris.