501.BB/12–2145
President Truman to The Honorable Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.
My Dear Mr. Stettinius: I am pleased to inform you that I have appointed you one of the representatives of the United States to the first part of the first session of the General Assembly of the United Nations to be held in London early in January 1946.4 A complete list of this Government’s Delegation is enclosed herewith.5
[Page 3]The United States representation at the first meeting of the General Assembly will be headed by the Secretary of State as Senior Representative or by you in his absence.
In so far as the General Assembly will deal with matters covered by the report of the Preparatory Commission, the representatives of the United States will be expected to support the recommendations made therein unless the position of the United States on a particular recommendation is reserved, in which case the representatives will be guided by my special instructions. I am, however, authorizing the Senior Representative, after consultation with the other representatives, to agree to modifications of the Preparatory Commission’s recommendations which in his opinion may be wise and necessary.
In so far as matters may arise which are not covered by the report of the Preparatory Commission, I shall transmit through the Senior Representative any further instructions as to the position which should be taken by the representatives of the United States.
I have instructed the Senior Representative to act as the principal spokesman for the United States in the General Assembly.
You, as a representative of the United States, will bear the grave responsibility of demonstrating the wholehearted support which this Government is pledged to give to the United Nations organization, to the end that the organization can become the means of preserving the [Page 4] international peace and of creating conditions of mutual trust and economic and social well-being among all peoples of the world. I am confident that you will do your best to assist the United States to accomplish these purposes in the first meeting of the General Assembly.
Sincerely yours,
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The organization of United States representation to the General Assembly of the United Nations was provided for in Section 2 (c) of the United Nations Participation Act which read in pertinent part: “The President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall designate from time to time to attend a specified session or specified sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations not to exceed five representatives of the United States and such number of alternates as he may determine consistent with the rules of procedure of the General Assembly. One of the representatives shall be designated as the senior representative.” On December 19, 1945 President Truman sent to the Senate the nominations of the following persons to be “Representatives of the United States of America to the first part of the First Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations to be held in London, January 1946”: Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.; Senator Tom Connally, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and Mrs. Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The nominations of Representative Sol Bloom, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs; Representative Charles A. Eaton, ranking minority member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs; Mr. Frank C. Walker, ex-Postmaster General of the United States; Mr. John Foster Dulles, prominent international lawyer; and Mr. John G. Townsend, Jr., ex-United States Senator, as Alternate Representatives were submitted by President Truman to the Senate at the same time. All nominations were approved by the Senate on December 20. (Department of State Bulletin, December 23, 1945, pp. 1018 and 1019)
At the same time, on December 19, the President informed the Senate that “At my request the Secretary of State [James F. Byrnes] will, for at least a portion of the session, attend the initial session of the General Assembly” (Department of State Bulletin, December 23, 1945, p. 1018). This was done under provision of Section 2 (e) of the United Nations Participation Act which stated that “Nothing contained in this section shall preclude the President or the Secretary of State, at the direction of the President, from representing the United States at any meeting or session of any organ or agency of the United Nations.” Because it was not necessary under Section 2 (e) for the President to nominate the Secretary of State as a representative to the General Assembly, only four names were submitted to the Senate for confirmation as “representatives” although five persons were nominated as “alternate representatives”.
Letters of appointment dated December 21, 1945 were sent to all the representatives (including the Secretary of State) and alternates. The letters were virtually identical in all cases except for paragraphs 2 and 5 where changes were made appropriate to the position of the addressee in the Delegation structure. (501.BB/12–2145)
↩ - See Delegation list, pp. 5–7.↩