Office of the Historian

Editorial Note

Formal negotiations for a site convention began in Washington on June 10 between representatives of the United States led by the Legal Adviser of the Department of State, Mr. Charles Fahy, and a United Nations team headed by the United Nations Assistant Secretary General [Page 90] for Legal Affairs, Dr. Ivan Kerno. One representative each from the State of New York and the State of Connecticut also attended. In a statement issued to the press on June 11 entitled “Negotiations on Legal Arrangements for United Nations Headquarters” the Department of State emphasized that the negotiations were confined to legal matters and did not concern the question of where the actual site would be located; see Department of State Bulletin, June 23, 1946, page 1078.

Seven meetings were held between June 10 and June 18 and resulted in a draft text described as a “convention/agreement”. The exact form of the instrument was left undetermined pending a decision on the part of the United Nations officials as to whether an agreement authorized by a joint resolution of the United States Congress would be a satisfactory arrangement from their point of view. In this connection Mr. Fahy on June 13 handed to Dr. Kerno at the latter’s request a memorandum indicating in what respects an executive agreement approved by joint resolution of the Congress would have the same constitutional validity as a treaty. Minutes of the meetings of June 12–18 and other relevant documentation including the June 20 draft text and the June 13 memorandum are found in the “Background Book”; the June 20 text is also printed as United Nations document A/67, September 1, 1946 (found in United Nations depository libraries).

Subsequently the Legal Adviser described the contents of the draft text as follows: “Stated broadly, the principal provisions of the draft Agreement are as follows:

  • “1. It provides that the United States will acquire land, by condemnation if necessary, for transfer to the United Nations, (Section 3);
  • “2. It authorizes the United Nations to establish its own communications system and to establish an airport, (Sections 7 and 8);
  • “3. It provides that the area owned by the United Nations shall be inviolable, i.e. the area shall not be entered by federal, state, or local officials of the United States in performance of their duties except with the consent of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, (Section 10);
  • “4. It provides that federal, state, and local law of the United States is to apply within the zone except as otherwise provided in the agreement, (Section 15);
  • “5. It provides that regulations made by the United Nations for the purpose of establishing conditions within its area appropriate for the execution of its functions shall be operative within the United Nations area, and that any federal, state, or local law of the United States inconsistent with such regulations shall to that extent be inapplicable within the United Nations area (Section 16);
  • “6. Except as otherwise provided in the Agreement, the federal, state and local courts are to have jurisdiction over acts done and transactions taking place within the United Nations area (Section 17).” (Memorandum, the Legal Adviser to Mr. George T. Washington, Assistant [Page 91] Solicitor General, Department of Justice, August 15, 1946, document 6a in “Background Book”)

Letters regarding the negotiations with accompanying draft text were submitted for comment during July and August to the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of War and the Administrator of Civil Aeronautics; the texts of these letters and the replies are found in Section 5 of the “Background Book”. This step was taken in preparation for the final negotiations for a site agreement between the United States and the United Nations, when a firm decision had been made on the location of the site for the permanent headquarters.