Office of the Historian

500.CC/3–3045

The Secretary of State to the Soviet Ambassador (Gromyko)58

The Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency the Ambassador of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and with reference to previous correspondence concerning the United Nations Conference on International Organization59 encloses memoranda concerning (1) the present views of this Government regarding the structure of the conference and (2) the extension of invitations to the Governments of Syria and Lebanon.60

The list of commissions and committees contained in the enclosed memorandum on structure was drafted to include informal suggestions received from certain of the other sponsoring governments in response to a memorandum handed to the respective Ambassadors on March 16.

The information contained in the enclosed memoranda as well as the contents of previous memoranda in this series have been telegraphed to the appropriate United States diplomatic missions abroad61 for communication to the participating governments. With respect to the memorandum on structure, the missions of the United States have been requested to indicate to the governments that this Government will appreciate receiving at the earliest practicable date any comments which they may wish to offer.

Washington , March 30, 1945.
[Enclosure]

Memorandum on the Structure of the United Nations Conference on International Organization

Following further study of the structure of the conference (see item number one, Information Memorandum number 162) this Government [Page 175] is currently of the opinion that the conference might resolve itself into the following commissions and committees:

commission i—general provisions

  • Committee 1—Preamble, Purposes, and Principles
  • Committee 2—Membership and General (to include Principal Organs, Secretariat, and Amendments)

commission ii—the general assembly

  • Committee 1—Structure and Procedure
  • Committee 2—Political and Security Functions
  • Committee 3—Economic and Social Cooperation
  • Committee 4—Trusteeship System

commission iii—the security council

  • Committee 1—Structure and Procedures
  • Committee 2—Peaceful Settlement
  • Committee 3—Enforcement Arrangements
  • Committee 4—Regional Arrangements

commission iv—judicial organization

  • Committee 1—International Court of Justice
  • Committee 2—Legal Problems

The diplomatic missions of the United States in the countries invited to participate have been requested to communicate the foregoing to the respective governments.

March 30, 1945.

  1. The same, mutatis mutandis, on the same date to the British and Chinese Ambassadors.↩
  2. In his Diary of March 18–April 7, Secretary Stettinius indicated that on March 21 his special assistant, Robert J. Lynch, had reported to him by telephone at his farm, “The Horseshoe”, that the recommended name for the Conference was “United Nations Conference on International Organization” and that he had said that was all right. In a circular telegram of March 29 the Acting Secretary of State requested diplomatic officers to note that the Conference was then being referred to formally as “United Nations Conference on International Organization” and to so apprise the Governments to which they were accredited (500.CC/3–2945).↩
  3. Memorandum No. 2 not printed, but see footnote 81, p. 139.↩
  4. Circular telegram, March 31, 9 a.m., not printed.↩
  5. Memorandum prepared in the Department of State, March 16, p. 131.↩