501.BB/4–2046
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
Organization and Operation of the United States Mission (UNM) to the United Nations, New York 51
1. Appointment of and Instructions to Representatives
The “United Nations Participation Act of 1945” (Public Law 264) provides identical methods of appointment and instructions for (1) the U.S. [UN?] Representative of the United States at the seat of the United Nations and in the Security Council, (2) the Representatives of the United States in the Economic and Social Council, and (3) the Trusteeship Council.* Each is appointed by the President (Sec. 2). The Act also provides that each will receive instructions from “the President transmitted by the Secretary of State unless other means of transmission is designated by the President” (Sec. 3). It is anticipated that, as in the case of other chief diplomatic representatives of the United States, these Representatives will work on the general basis of instructions from the Department.
Instructions from the Department to the New York Mission will be distributed directly to the Representative for whom they are intended. To facilitate this procedure instructions ordinarily will be marked “For Stettinius” or “For Winant,” as the case may be.
2. Principal Responsibilities of the Respective Representatives and their Staffs
It is assumed that the U.S. Representatives at the seat of the organization will work in close collaboration. Within this framework of collaboration each Representative has special responsibilities as contemplated in the Participation Act.
[Page 24]The U.S. Representative at the seat and in the Security Council is primarily responsible for representing the United States in the work of the Security Council and sub-organs that it may create, and for appropriate relationships with U.S. representatives on the Military Staff Committee. As provided in the Act he will be assisted in these responsibilities by a Deputy Representative in the Security Council appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Deputy will sit for the Representative in the latter’s absence. It is also anticipated that the political counsel of the Deputy may be found useful by the Representative on the Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council and that this relationship will grow and strengthen itself in the course of time although the Representatives on these two Councils, as indicated below, each will have his own staff of advisers and technical assistants. The functions of the U.S. Representative to the Security Council in his capacity as U.S. Representative at the seat are discussed under point 3, below.
The Representative of the United States in the Economic and Social Council will have full responsibility for representing the United States in the work of the Economic and Social Council and sub-organs that it may create and for carrying on appropriate relationships with the work of specialized agencies related to the Economic and Social Council.
The Representative of the United States in the Trusteeship Council will have similar responsibilities with respect to the work of that Council.
It is expected that each of these Representatives will be responsible for the organization of his own staff of advisers and technical assistants and the direction of its work. The Department will consult with each of the Representatives in the selection and organization of their staffs. Most of these staffs will be provided by detail of officers, as needed, from the Department, the Foreign Service, or other government agencies inasmuch as the budget for the Mission is extremely limited insofar as advisers and technical assistants are concerned.
3. Additional Responsibilities of the U.S. Representative at the Seat
As provided in Public Law 264, the Representative of the United States at the seat not only serves in the Security Council but is expected to perform “such other functions in connection with the participation of the United States in the United Nations as the President may from time to time direct” (Sec. 2(a)). A number of these additional functions already have developed as indicated immediately below, and others will no doubt develop in the future.
[Page 25]a. Relationships with the United Nations and Its Secretariat on General and Administrative Problems
For example, there will arise questions concerning the budget of the United Nations, the organization of its Secretariat, requests from the Secretariat for assistance in employing United States personnel, matters concerning the temporary and permanent site of the United Nations, communications between the Department and the Secretariat which are not of primary interest to the Representative on the Economic and Social Council or on the Trusteeship Council, etc. All of these will be the daily business of the United States Representative at the seat, and his staff.
b. General Services of the Mission
It is also expected that the U.S. Representative at the seat will have responsibility for organizing and operating the Secretariat of the Mission. To facilitate the work of the Mission and assist the various U.S. Representatives to the United Nations, it will be helpful for the Secretariat to furnish all of them with the services ordinarily required by a United States Mission; if the other Representatives so desire, it should be possible for them to make mutually satisfactory arrangements along these lines with the U.S. Representative at the seat. These common services might include, for example, such services as press relations, office space, supplies and equipment, communications, transportation, administration of stenographic force, and the filing system.
c. Annual Budget of the Mission
It is expected also that the U.S. Representative will be responsible for preparing for submission to the Department the annual budget of the Mission. In this connection he will, of course, prepare estimates for his own staff on Security Council matters and such staff as he requires for work with the Military Staff Committee group, and also for the Secretariat of the Mission. He would receive from the Representatives on the Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council their budget estimates so that they could be submitted as part of the budget of the Mission. A single common budget can then be submitted which will facilitate review as a whole by the Department, the Budget Bureau, and the Congress of the expenses of participation by the United States in the United Nations under the terms of the United Nations Participation Act of 1945.
4. Delegations to the General Assembly
The roles of the U.S. Representative at the seat and in the Security Council, his Deputy and the representatives in the Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council, at meetings of the General Assembly, will need to be defined at the time of each session of the Assembly in light of the appointments by the President of the Delegations to those sessions. Irrespective of the makeup of the Delegation itself it may develop that the Deputy may usefully serve as [Page 26] the chief political adviser to Assembly Delegations in order to ensure continuity of political contacts with those delegations which have permanent representation at the seat of the organization and to facilitate coordination of American policy in the Security Council and in the Assembly.
5. General Administrative Provisions
All budgetary and administrative matters of the United States Mission to the United Nations, New York, should, of course, be handled in conformity with policies and standards established by the Secretary of State in appropriate Departmental regulations. The policy and procedures with respect to the recruitment and employment of United States Nationals for service with the United Nations Secretariat, if any, should be established by mutual agreement between the Secretary of State and the Secretary General of the United Nations.
- Drafted by the Director of the Office of Special Political Affairs (Hiss) at the request of the Secretary of State. Officially the draft became the Secretary’s memorandum when he affixed his signature.↩
- In view of the special nature of the work of the Commission on Atomic Energy, relations with the U.S. Representative on the Commission are not covered in this memorandum. [Footnote in the original.]↩