Foreign Relations of the United States, Conference at Quebec, 1944

Roosevelt Papers: Telegram

top secret

Washington , September 14, 1944.

For immediate personal attention of the President.

1.: Yesterday Ambassador Gromyko notified me and Cadogan that he had received his instructions on the question of voting in the council. He said that his Government maintained its insistence upon the inviolability of the principle of the unanimity of the four great powers. He said that he had made a number of other concessions but that there was no possibility of his being authorized to give in on this point.
2.: Yesterday afternoon and evening we worked hard with the British and Russians devising a compromise formula which would provide that in all procedures concerning pacific settlement of disputes, the votes of all members of the council parties to such disputes should not be counted but that in procedures concerned with enforcement action decisions by the council must be on the basis of the concurrence of members having permanent seats on the council, including parties to the dispute.
3.: Gromyko is tentatively sounding out his government on this new formula. Mr. Hull is considering the matter carefully. May we have your views as promptly as possible?
4.: All other developments have been reported to you in my daily progress reports.2

E[dward] S[tettinius]

Under Secretary of State

Delivered to the White House Map Room; forwarded to Roosevelt at Quebec as telegram No. MR-out -403.↩
For Stettinius’ progress report to Hull dated September 14, 1944, see Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. i, pp. 807–809.↩