Lot 60–D 224, Box 55: D.O./P.R./28
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Stettinius) to the Secretary of State
Subject: Progress Report on Dumbarton Oaks Conversations—Twenty-ninth Day26
During the night the secretariat prepared copies of the final draft of the agreed provisions of the document incorporating the final decisions made at the meeting of the Joint Steering Committee yesterday. Copies of this final draft, which is dated September 20,27 were sent to the British and Soviet Embassies last night about 9:00. Additional copies were distributed to the members of the American group this morning.
[Page 831]Meeting of the American Group at 10:30 A.M.
I reported to the members of the American group the substance of the conversation which Secretary Hull and I had had with the President earlier this morning28 and, in particular, informed the members of the group that both the Secretary and the President are in full accord with the proposal that the Russian phase of the conversations be adjourned on the understanding that the text of the document as agreed to will be published soon together with the statement that questions of voting procedure in the Council and certain other matters are still under consideration and will be the subject of further negotiations among the Governments.29
Consideration was given to the procedure to be followed during the Chinese phase of the conversations and to the methods by which the Latin American countries would receive advance copies of the agreed-upon text shortly before the date of publication.
In view of the anticipated delay in the receipt of replies by the British and Soviet groups based upon the final text of the document as communicated to London and Moscow by those groups last night, it was decided to cancel the regular Friday and Saturday meetings of the American group. The group was asked to stand by for any emergency call over the weekend, particularly Sunday afternoon. The next regular meeting was scheduled for Monday at 9:30 a.m.
Continuing Activity by the Secretariat
The secretariat was occupied during the remainder of the day with preparation of minutes and other documents.
- No official meetings were held from September 20 through 27, while Sir Alexander Cadogan and Ambassador Gromyko awaited their instructions on the proposal that the conversations be terminated with the publication of the draft document so far as agreed upon, together with a statement that other matters would receive further consideration among the Governments. (Progress report, September 25.)↩
- Not printed; for subsequent revisions of this draft, see progress report of September 27, p. 838.↩
- See extract from Mr. Stettinius’ Diary, September 21, infra.↩
- Discussions were in process at this time for a meeting of President Roosevelt with Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin, but this did not take place until February 1945 at Yalta. For correspondence on preparation for consideration at this Conference of the United Nations Organization, see Foreign Relations, The Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945, pp. 44 ff.↩