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

USUN Files

Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. John C. Ross, Adviser, United States Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly

secret

[New York,] November 23, 1946.

Subject: Troops Matter

Participants:	Secretary Byrnes
	Senator Austin
	Senator Connally
	Mr. Ben Cohen
	Mr. Charles Fahy
	Mr. John Ross
	Mr. Robert Shirley

Senator Austin outlined to the Secretary the Delegation discussion at its meeting this morning on the question of reporting on troops.⁶ In particular, Senator Austin raised the question whether the United States should, through Senator Connally, make a statement on Monday⁷ of our intention, as of a given date before the Assembly closes, to publish information on our troops at home and abroad along the lines of the draft resolution discussed in the Delegation this morning and regardless of whether any resolution is passed or whether any other government released similar information.

After considerable discussion of the various reasons for and against this proposal, the Secretary clearly indicated his strong opposition to such a unilateral declaration on our part and it was agreed, therefore, that no such declaration would be made.

The Secretary’s principal reason was that if we were unilaterally to publish information of the character indicated, this would merely provide a target for other people to shoot at without our information being considered in the light of similar information provided by other governments. Rather than being improved our public relations would thereby be very considerably impaired. On the other hand, the Secretary felt that our public relations position would be very strong if our information were published as he felt it should be, together with similar information from the other countries.

There was then considerable discussion of the position which the United States should now take. It was agreed that for the present our political officers would not discuss with representatives of other delegations any specific resolution, but that they would discuss with them the fundamental points in our position, and that Senator Connally would make a statement in Committee 1 on Monday which would state these points with such explanation and amplification as may seem desirable.

These points were enumerated and agreed to as follows:

1. The United States agrees with the views expressed by Mr. Molotov, Mr. Bevin and others that the question of information concerning troops is related to and should be considered in connection with the Article 43 armed force agreements.

2. The United States agrees that information concerning troops is related to and should be considered with the question of a general reduction of armaments. The United States therefore supports Mr. Bevin’s suggestion that these two matters should be considered together, provided, however, that, as the Secretary stated, we would support Mr. Bevin’s suggestion if it envisaged that meanwhile the information called for would be provided within thirty days after passage of an appropriate resolution by the Assembly, and as further stated by the Secretary, if this were not the case then we could not support the British suggestion.

3. The United States believes that each Member of the United Nations should submit the following information to the Secretary General and to the Security Council:

(a) The total number of its uniformed personnel on active service wherever stationed, including personnel of the armed forces and in military type organizations;

(b) The number of such personnel in active service within its own territories;

(c) The number of such personnel on the territory of each other country where they are stationed.

4. The United States believes that this information should be descriptive of the situation existing on November 1, 1946, and that it be supplied to the Secretary General within thirty days after the adoption of an appropriate resolution by the Assembly.

5. The United States believes that the Secretary General should publish promptly all information received and should furnish copies of such information to the Security Council and to all Members of the United Nations.

The Secretary stated that if the resolution contemplated failed of passage the United States had a free hand to furnish the information independently and to consider when and if it would do so regardless of the course of the resolution in the Assembly. This would not be said in Senator Connally’s statement.

On the question of supporting the British motion to combine consideration of this matter with the disarmament matter, the Secretary very clearly stated if the purpose of the British motion were merely to assure in all good faith that at the proper time the two matters would be considered together then he was for it. If, however, the British proposal meant that there would be any delay in action by the Assembly on the troops matter considered separately, then he would oppose it. In other words, the Secretary felt very strongly that whatever action is taken in Committee 1 and by the Assembly should include a provision calling for the information in question within thirty days after approval of a resolution. The Secretary said he had, in effect, told Mr. Bevin from the very beginning when they first discussed the matter in Paris and he would tell him the same thing over and over again as much as might be necessary and seemed to indicate that he would definitely speak with Bevin about it this afternoon.

6. Regarding the Delegation’s decisions on the subject, see telegram 843, November 23, supra.
7. November 25.