550.AD1 Interim Commission/120
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of International Conferences (Kelchner) to the Assistant Secretary of State (Acheson)
Establishment of the United Nations Interim Commission on Food and Agriculture
Mr. Acheson: With a view to fulfilling the obligations entrusted to this Government by the Hot Springs Conference in performing the necessary preliminary action for the establishment of the Interim Commission, the following steps have been taken:
- (1)
- The governments and authorities were requested by telegram on June 11, 194350 to designate their respective representatives on the Commission. The local missions were also informed. (The Department has been informed of 32 members who have been designated.)
- (2)
- Draft Regulations have been formulated and reviewed by members of the Departments of State and Agriculture and Public Health Service, and have been approved by you. These draft Regulations have been distributed to the local missions as well as to the members thus far designated.
- (3)
- The working group has formulated a tentative plan of organization which should be approved by you and Mr. Appleby51 well in advance of the meeting since the members have been informed that copies of the plan of organization would be distributed at the inaugural session.
- (4)
- Notifications dated July 8, 1943 have gone to the missions and the other appropriate officials of the forty-four governments and authorities that the inaugural session will be held Thursday, July 15, 1943, at 2:30 p.m. There is attached a copy of the agenda which you have already approved, together with observations and suggestions.52
- (5)
- In accordance with your instructions, a letter of designation was prepared last night to Mr. Appleby as the member of the United States on the Interim Commission, as well as a press release on this subject.
- (6)
- It has been deemed advisable to change the place of the meeting from the Archives Building to the Hall of the Americas in the Pan American Union, in view of the possibility of having a larger attendance than had been anticipated originally.
- (7)
- Notes are being sent today50 to the missions and to the members thus far designated, notifying them of Mr. Appleby’s designation as the United States member and of the change of place for the inaugural session.
According to the draft Regulations, the Executive Secretary shall be nominated by the Executive Committee and approved by the Commission. [Page 850] It would seem necessary for you and Mr. Appleby to agree upon the nominee in advance of the inaugural session so that he may be serving on a temporary basis from the very beginning. The Executive Secretary will organize the Secretariat, direct and coordinate its work, et cetera. It is highly important that this individual be apprised of his candidacy as soon as possible since he should take over immediately.
In accordance with the general understanding, we have made no definite provision for a Secretariat beyond the inaugural session. It has been the consensus that no elaborate Secretariat should be established during the early days of the Commission and that, accordingly, whatever personnel is required will be obtained by loan from the various agencies. It is also understood that the Executive Secretary will be someone from the Department of Agriculture and that most of the personnel of the Secretariat will come from that Department.
Mr. Stinebower53 has informed me that it has been decided that the relationship of the State Department to the Interim Commission will be maintained by you through him. Accordingly, and in view of the fact that the United States member and probably the Executive Secretary will be from the Department of Agriculture, there would appear to be no necessity for IC to assume any active responsibilities beyond the close of the inaugural session. Of course, IC will be glad to cooperate in every appropriate manner.
[The program of the Inaugural Session of the Interim Commission on July 15, 1943, the list of representatives on the Interim Commission, and addresses of welcome by Assistant Secretary of State Acheson and the Representative of India are printed in Department of State Bulletin, July 17, 1943, pages 33–38.
In an executive session of the Interim Commission on July 20, 1943, officers were elected and committees were set up; see ibid., July 24, 1943, page 52.]