500.CC (PC)/12–1745: Telegram
The Acting United States Representative on the Preparatory Commission (Stevenson) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received December 17—8:40 a.m.]
13212. Copre 590. Gromyko called on me this morning to suggest that he would like to discuss the Secretary General. He commenced by saying that the Soviet Union had supported the US in the matter of the site of the permanent headquarters and wished now to have our views on Stanoje Simic, Yugoslav Ambassador at Washington as Secretary General.
He said he was uncertain as to whether he would return to Moscow between the Preparatory Commission and the General Assembly but that if he did he would want to leave promptly at the conclusion of the Preparatory Commission and thought some five power discussion of [Page 1492] the Secretary General and the non-permanent members of the Security Council in the course of this week was desirable.
We tentatively agreed to arrange if possible a five power meeting on Thursday December 20.
He was entirely noncommittal with respect to second choices. I suggested that I had heard some discussion latterly of Van Kleffens56 but he was not responsive and gave us no indication of any interest in anyone except Simic. He suggested that any five power meeting be deferred until after I had received the Dept’s views on Simic.
I have had no discussions of Secretary General here during the Preparatory Commission except one brief talk with Wellington Koo on his initiative. He felt that an American should not be excluded from consideration if the US was chosen for the site but agreed that it might not be wise to urge this point of view. I gathered that he was interested in hearing the names uppermost in our consideration and I remarked that Van Kleffens, Spaak or Pearson had all been mentioned to me by other delegates and seemed to us worthy of consideration; he discouraged any talk of himself as a possibility.
I suspect that Simic is advanced for trading purposes to enable Gromyko to make an important concession to unanimity among the five and to US in particular in order to get sympathetic consideration of his candidates for General Assembly positions. I would prefer if possible to have Simic eliminated from consideration by the other powers. Perhaps you should wire me that the Dept is willing to consider the qualifications of all candidates including Simic and withhold any final position for the present and also send me your views about him personally and any up to date suggestions and instructions on the whole subject of the Secretary General.
- E. N. van Kleffens, Netherlands Minister for Foreign Affairs.↩