Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1945, General: The United Nations, Volume I

500.CC/6–2345

The Chairman of the United States Delegation (Stettinius) to the Acting Chairman of the Soviet Delegation (Gromyko)

[San Francisco,] June 23, 1945.

My Dear Mr. Ambassador: I have your letter of June 20 in which you refer to the conversation which took place between Commander Stassen and yourself on June 9 concerning the attitude held by the Soviet Government with reference to territorial trusteeship and your desire that our, two Governments should be in accord on this matter.

Commander Stassen promptly conveyed to me your point of view, stating that your Government would like to be assured of the favorable attitude of the United States if the Soviet Government, at some future time, proposed a territory for trusteeship. He added that you indicated that you had no specific territory in mind but that you hoped that the two Governments could agree in principle upon this question.

Commander Stassen also reported that he was certain that your Government understood that, in accordance with the Yalta agreement,¹¹ no specific territories were to be discussed at San Francisco and that the method by which a trusteeship would arise would be by the state which had the jurisdiction over a territory making a proposal to the appropriate body of the Organization.¹²

I told Commander Stassen that I thought your point of view was eminently reasonable and that we would be happy to support in principle the Soviet proposal as to the eligibility of your Government as a potential administering authority.

Your letter of June 20 carries the point raised to a further stage beyond the principle agreed upon in the conversation. In accordance with the Yalta agreement no specific territories were to be discussed at the San Francisco Conference but I shall, of course, be glad to know your views on this subject, even though the matter falls outside the scope of the Conference. It might be more convenient, however, to both of us, to take this matter up after our return to Washington.

With kind regards [etc.]

E. R. Stettinius, Jr.

11. Protocol of Proceedings of the Crimea Conference, February 11, 1945, Conferences at Malta and Yalta, p. 977.
12. This point was emphasized by the Secretary of State in his letter of July 7 (not printed), to the Secretary of the Navy (Forrestal). He noted that at the final meeting of Committee II/4 on Trusteeship (Doc. 1143, II/4/46, June 21, UNCIO Documents, vol. 10, p. 602), at the instance of Commander Stassen, it was made a matter of official record in the report of the Rapporteur of that Committee (Doc. 1115, II/4/44 (1) (a), June 20, ibid., p. 610) that the Committee recognized that paragraph 3 of section B, now article 77, chapter XII, was the primary paragraph of the chapters relating to trusteeship and there could be no doubt that article 77 was controlling. “The very essence of this system,” he concluded, “remains as it was in the original proposal of this Government, namely, that territories may be placed under trusteeship only by subsequent individual agreements voluntarily entered into by the states directly concerned.” (800.014/6–1645)