501.BB/1–2646: Telegram
The United States Representative at the United Nations (Stettinius) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 28—7:56 a.m.]
1016. Delun 162. There is quoted below the text of the telegram from Colonel General Hoxa addressed to the President and Vice Presidents [Page 360] of the General Assembly requesting Albanian admission to UNO membership. This telegram was recently transmitted by the Yugoslav delegation to Mr. Jebb.27 It was agreed at the Security Council meeting Friday28 that the question of whether the Albanian application should be placed on the agenda would be discussed at the next meeting of the Security Council on January 28. As the British through Gore-Booth29 have approached us not only on the question of the Albanian application but on the matter of admission of new members generally, we should appreciate receiving from the Department any advice that it may have.
“Message from the President of the People’s Republic of Albania to the President and Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly.
The following is the text of the telegram from Colonel General Enver Hoxa, President of the People’s Republic of Albania, to the President and Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly.
To His Excellency the President and to the Vice Presidents of the General Assembly of the United Nations, London.
On the occasion of the opening of the first session of the General Assembly of the United Nations which marks an important stage in the history of mankind, I should like to inform Your Excellency that the Government of the People’s Republic of Albania, being desirous of giving positive evidence of the importance they attach to the organisation for peace and cooperation among nations and of the joining the other democratic countries in the working out of the noble purposes and the exalted principles which constitute the bases of the organisation, had the honour to address a request to the President of the Preparatory Commission on the 20th December 1945 asking him to undertake the necessary steps with a view to the admission of Albania into the organisation of the United Nations in accordance with the provisions of the Charter and on the basis of the contribution of her people to the common cause of the United Nations. In renewing their application the Government of the People’s Republic of Albania are convinced that the General Assembly, appreciating at their true value the immense sacrifices made by the Albanian people during the long and arduous struggle against the Axis Powers, will accede to their request. At the same time, I wish to declare on behalf of the Government [Page 361] of the People’s Republic of Albania that our country is prepared to assume all the obligations arising from the Charter of the United Nations.
I avail myself of this opportunity to express to Your Excellency, in the name of the Albanian people, the name of the People’s Republic of Albania and my own, the warmest and most sincere good wishes that the work of the new organisation may be crowned with full success in achieving a more prosperous future for mankind.
President of the People’s Republic of Albania Colonel-General Enver Hoxa.”
- H. M. Gladwyn Jebb, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission, who was acting in a temporary capacity as United Nations Secretary-General pending the election of a permanent official.↩
- At this meeting on January 25 when the Albanian application first came to the notice of the Security Council Mr. Stettinius made a brief statement which in effect set the direction of United States policy on this issue for the remainder of the London meetings: “May I suggest that we deal with the question of new membership as a whole later on, at one meeting rather than piecemeal? I am sure there are a number of delegations which have statements to make relative to new membership, and I think it would be much better to deal with the subject in toto” (United Nations, Official Records of the Security Council, First Year, First Series, p. 21; hereafter cited as SC, 1st yr., 1st series).↩
- Paul H. Gore-Booth, British Foreign Office official and head of the Secretariat of the United Kingdom Delegation to the General Assembly.↩