501.AA/7–2946: Telegram
The Acting United States Representative at the United Nations (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
us urgent
[Received July 29—7:27 p.m.]
458. I had this morning a talk with Gromyko as suggested in the Department’s telegram No. 145, July 20, 11 a.m.
I told Gromyko that several neutral states had made inquiries of [Page 421] us regarding our attitude toward their admission to the United Nations and that we had reason to believe that some at least of them had made similar inquiries of other Security Council members. I referred to Chapter 10 of the Potsdam Agreement and the pledge of the Three Powers to support applications of the neutrals with the exception of Spain who could fulfill the qualifications of Article 4. I said that he must be aware that Sweden and Portugal and possibly other neutral states had hesitated to forward their applications for fear that one of the permanent members of the Council would vote against them. I referred to our talk of July 3 and remarked that I felt certain he understood exactly what my views were on each of the neutral states.
Gromyko said that he still had no instructions as to the attitude which would be taken on applications from these states. I asked him if he would not try to get an indication of Moscow’s attitude and said that I thought the neutral countries who were considering applying ought to get some sort of clearance, particularly as there seemed to be no reason to believe that any of them could not qualify under the terms of the Charter. Gromyko registered no objection but said that several states had already made their applications and mentioned particularly Outer Mongolia and Albania. He asked me in what order I thought the applications would be considered in the Membership Committee. I replied that it seemed logical to me for the applications to be considered in chronological order and that the facts found by the Committee on all the applications should be embodied in a single report. I reminded him that at our previous talk, he said all applications should be considered on their individual merits and that I did not see why it was necessary to connect consideration on the application of one state with that of another. Gromyko replied that they were connected in fact. I asked him if he meant “political” and he said yes. I did not disagree with his statement as both of us understood each other perfectly and it seemed unnecessary to get into argumentative discussion. He attempted to argue the case of Albania as a matter of right. I told him I had given him our views on Albania at our earlier meeting, that I hoped Albania would take the necessary steps to qualify, that I personally hoped that all the recognized states of the world could qualify under the Charter and be admitted as soon as possible. I reminded him that the Greeks have indicated objections to Albania and their intention to bring those objections before the Council. He then commented that the Greeks not only disliked Albania but also Bulgaria and the Soviet Union and other countries.
In regard to Outer Mongolia, I said that we know very little about that country and nothing as to whether it is qualified to assume the [Page 422] obligations imposed by the Charter. I said that conditions in Outer Mongolia were unknown not only to us but to the world, to which he replied that the United States and Great Britain could get all the information they wanted about that country. He did not say how. He said that the Soviet Government had statistical evidence to prove that Outer Mongolia in fact had a very good moral claim to membership, that they had participated actively and in considerable numbers in actual combat against the Japanese.
The only country on which he tried to draw me out was Trans-Jordan. I told him our policy in regard to Trans-Jordan had not yet been formulated and that as he well knew it had important political implications in this country.
It is obvious that Gromyko understands our point of view and knows that we understand his. He did not commit himself specifically on any country but he made it sufficiently clear that Russian support of Albania and Outer Mongolia may go to the point of insisting on their admission as a condition for admitting western European states whose intrinsic claims to membership not even he would question. He was very good humored throughout the interview and promised to let me know of anything he got from Moscow. As a parting shot when I was leaving, he said that consideration of Outer Mongolia and Albania would in fact have a connection with consideration of applications of other states. I said: “You mean a political connection?” He laughed and said yes.