Lot 60–D 224, Box 59: Stettinius Diary
Extract From the Personal Diary of the Under Secretary of State (Stettinius)
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Conversation with Dr. Koo
At 3:00 I called Dr. Koo’s suite at the Shoreham Hotel, accompanied by Mr. Grew and Mr. Hiss, to discuss arrangements for the Chinese phase of the conversations. I opened the meeting by apologizing profusely for the delay in keeping the Chinese waiting but indicated it was caused by conditions beyond our control. I promised to have Mr. Grew hand him early Friday morning several copies of the final document agreed to by the British, Soviets and American group so the Chinese would have an opportunity to study it. I suggested that perhaps at the first general meeting of the Chinese phase, Dr. Koo might wish to give his general views on the document and that then we could go over the text in later sessions in some detail.
I handed Dr. Koo a memorandum45 listing points to be settled in connection with the arrangements and Dr. Koo asked for a little time to study the suggestions. He wished to defer setting a definite time for the first business meeting until after he had studied the questions involved. It was therefore agreed that the Chinese be given the weekend for study and not to hold meetings on Saturday.
[Page 842]I then broke the news to Dr. Koo that Cadogan had been called back to London and might not be able to participate in the Chinese phase. I explained he had already been here twice as long as he had expected to be away from London. I explained while I did not wish to rush the Chinese I felt it was important we proceed with appropriate despatch and try to cover the ground as rapidly as possible. Dr. Koo was sympathetic with this approach but said that until they had been over the document he did not feel he could agree to wind up for publication on the 9th. I stressed to Dr. Koo the desirability in our judgment of having as much work as possible during the Chinese phase done at plenary meetings. I also explained how helpful we had found the small group known as the Joint Steering Committee during the first phase and explained that if much drafting was necessary we had found our formulation group procedure helpful. Dr. Koo also agreed to holding our dinner for the Chinese on Monday evening. In answer to Dr. Koo’s inquiry I told him we expected the Chinese representative to speak first following Mr. Hull at the opening session. It was agreed that Mr. Liu of the Embassy and Mr. Hiss would confer as to technical arrangements covering menus, seating, etc.
Meeting with the President
I called at the White House at 4:55 and General Watson told me the President was waiting for me in his study. Mr. Hopkins was with him and he remained with us while I gave my report to the President. I handed him the progress memos of the past two days and pointed out we had obtained agreement at the last meeting on including paragraphs on amendments and on human rights, fundamental freedoms, and on domestic jurisdiction. He seemed gratified by these developments and felt the inclusion of the human rights sentence was extremely vital. He seems rather surprised that the Soviets had yielded on this point. He apparently felt that its inclusion would aid much in the success and acceptance of the plan.
I then reviewed for him the five major issues which would remain open probably for consideration by him with the other Chiefs of State:
- 1.
- Voting in the Council
- 2.
- Statute on the International Court of Justice
- 3.
- Initial membership
- 4.
- Trusteeships
- 5.
- Liquidation of the League
The President indicated he was not too concerned about the voting question and that he thought a formula could be found. I [Page 843] said I was hopeful something along the lines of our informal compromise plan would eventually be found acceptable by all. He was satisfied to leave the initial membership question in the present document on the basis of all peace-loving nations.
He seemed surprised we had not discussed territorial trusteeships and I explained we had not done so at the specific and strong request of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I explained at this point that the Navy was not sympathetic to his point of view on trusteeships and that he would have to go into this matter thoroughly with them.
I did not review the question of the liquidation of the League but the President said he would be happy to have a memorandum on this for study at some later date.
I then told the President I held a press conference at 4:15 this afternoon and explained that we expected to end with the Soviets tomorrow, issue a joint communiqué and that we hoped to finish with the Chinese and publish the document on the 9th. He seemed very satisfied with this. I then explained to the President Gromyko’s two reservations in the Steering Committee meeting, one on the voting and the other on the X matter. He continued not to be alarmed on the voting question but was disturbed on the X matter. Much to my surprise he said he had reviewed this matter with the Brazilian Ambassador.46
I then inquired what he had in mind for the next step after we finished up on the 9th, whether there should be a meeting of the Foreign Ministers or what procedure he preferred. He indicated he thought it would be best to await developments and see how the plan was received on publication. He indicated he might like to handle it at a meeting with the other chiefs of state.
He seemed to feel there was no great hurry on getting a final plan to the Senate for ratification. He said if a top meeting could be held in November, it would still be possible to hold a conference of the United Nations along about January and get a plan to the Senate in the spring. Mr. Hopkins complimented us on a magnificent job, done at Dumbarton Oaks. The President also seemed tremendously pleased and expressed great confidence in the job which had been done. He was especially pleased that agreement had been achieved on publication on October 9.
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