Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, General; the United Nations, Volume I

IO Files: SD/S/175

Memorandum Prepared in the Department of State⁷⁹

secret

[Washington,] May 28, 1946.

Subject: Further Steps in Relation to the Admission of New Members.

Now that our Resolution on Membership has been adopted by the Security Council we are in a position to initiate discussions with various states eligible for membership and, after we ascertain the desires of such states, to review the situation in New York with representatives of the other permanent members on the Security Council.

Through telegraphic instructions and other papers forwarded to New York, as well as through conversations of Mr. Herschel Johnson in Washington, the Delegation has doubtless gained a full understanding of the Department’s objectives and a general understanding of the procedure envisaged. The membership book⁸⁰ also contains specific country study statements. For the sake of clarity, however, we will briefly review both aspects of the problems here.

Our long-term objective is membership for all qualified states. Our short-term aim is to obtain the admission this year of as many as possible of the states which are presently eligible. In our opinion, these states may be classified as follows:

(a) All the neutrals except Spain. As far as the neutrals are concerned, we think that the three powers which signed the Potsdam Declaration are fairly well committed, although we recognize that the question can still be raised as to whether certain of the neutrals are able and willing to carry out the obligations contained in the Charter. In certain cases, such as Switzerland, delays may ensue because of the difficulty to be expected in reconciling constitutional provisions or traditional policies with the obligations of the Charter.

(b) States which may be termed victims of aggression and states which were co-belligerents. We include Austria, Albania and Siam in the category of victims of aggression. We are prepared under any circumstances to vote for the admission of Siam but probably would not be able to support its candidacy actively until Siam retrocedes certain areas which are in dispute with the French. We would be willing to vote rather reluctantly for the admission of Albania if we could arrange at the same time for the admission of neutrals which may apply, of Siam if it applies, of Austria and of Italy.

As to Italy, although it will be difficult under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, we desire also to arrange for her admission. If that is not possible we would wish to defer action on Austria, since we feel that Italy—whose services as a co-belligerent should not be disregarded—should not be admitted later than Austria. We are by no means certain that we can arrange for the admission of Austria and Italy this year, but we wish to make the effort in any event.

We feel three things should now be done:

(a) We should ascertain definitely the wishes of the eligible states as to membership and in talking to them tell them what our position would be on their applications. In general, our position will be one of active support at the proper time for all of these states with the exception of Eire, in whose case we feel our support can only extend to voting in favor of an application, and of the possible reservation pertaining to Siam mentioned above.

(b) After definitely ascertaining the desires of the presently eligible states, and if there is no objection by the particular state concerned, we would then wish that the U.S. Representative ascertain informally the reactions of the other permanent members of the Security Council.

(c) We would then plan to discuss the question further with the eligible states, informing them fully of the content and the results of our discussions with the other permanent members of the Security Council. The eligible states would thus have adequate information upon which to decide whether or not to submit their applications, and in cases where it was justified we would encourage the candidate state to apply for membership.

Before starting the steps enumerated above and in view of the expressed wish of the British to discuss this problem with us it would be desirable for Mr. Stettinius or Mr. Herschel Johnson to review the whole matter informally with Sir Alexander Cadogan. We do, however, desire ourselves in any event to talk to Iceland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Afghanistan. The discussion with Sir Alexander should, we believe, take place at the earliest possible moment, since we desire to initiate our discussions with the other countries in the very near future.

79. Drafted by Messrs. Raynor and Taylor and taken to New York by Mr. Raynor.
80. This book was made up of two black binders entitled “Admission to Membership in the United Nations” and was divided into 3 parts: Policy, background information and pertinent documents, and information on specific countries.