Office of the Historian

IO Files: US/A/C.1/79

Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. G. Hay den Raynor, Adviser, United States Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly

secret
[New York,] November 25, 1946.

This morning before the opening of Committee 1 Mr. Escott Reid18 handed to me a revised copy of the Canadian proposal on disarmament. He inquired firstly if I had any comments on the earlier draft of this proposal which he had given to me a week ago.19 I told him that it was under study in my Delegation and in the State Department but to date I had received no comments on it. He then stated that the [Page 1052] Canadian Delegation was under pressure from Ottawa to submit this proposal at once but before doing so they want to know if that action would embarrass us in any way or if there was any reason we would prefer they not take this action.

After talking to Mr. John Ross on the telephone, I informed Mr. Reid later in the day that while we did not wish to make any request of the Canadians to defer this action we would appreciate their considering in this connection the points which I would make to him. I then explained that at very high levels in our Government a comprehensive plan on disarmament was being developed for presentation to this Assembly and that we expected our proposal would be a very important one. I explained that while I could not yet disclose its contents as it was not completed I could say that while parts of the Canadian proposal were along the same line as ours there were several points in the Canadian proposal which were at considerable variance from what our plan would probably propose. I said that we had expected all along, and still desired, to consult with the Canadians on our plan and that we hoped that we would be prepared for such consultation toward the latter part of this week.

Mr. Reid agreed to bring the points which I had made to the attention of Mr. St. Laurent.20 He later told me that he had done so and Mr. St. Laurent was referring the matter back to Ottawa and that there certainly would not be any action on their part for another twenty-four hours. Mr. Reid added, however, that he did hope the consultation would be a consultation and that we would not wait until our plan was so definitely frozen that there would be no opportunity for it to be revised and that the consultation would not be a consultation but the giving of information to them.

Mr. Reid, at the reception tonight, told me that he had been talking to the Australians on this matter as they also have a resolution which they plan to submit immediately. He asked if I would say something to the Australians along the same line as I had said to him as he then thought they might be able to work out an agreement between themselves so that each would postpone submitting its proposal.21

  1. First Secretary, Canadian Embassy; Adviser, Canadian Delegation to the General Assembly.↩
  2. For text of the Canadian proposal introduced in the First Committee at its 30th Meeting, November 28, see GA (I/2), First Committee, p. 335. This proposal was a revision of the Soviet draft. The United States Delegation had transmitted a very similar version of the Canadian proposal to the Department of State in telegram 844, November 23, not printed (501.BB/11–2346).↩
  3. Louis S. St. Laurent, Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs; Head of the Canadian Delegation to the General Assembly.↩

  4. In a memorandum also dated November 25, Raynor stated the following:

    “Following Mr. Escott Reid’s request, referred to in a separate memorandum of this date, I spoke to Mr. Paul Hasluck at the reception this evening on the matter of disarmament. I repeated to him almost exactly what I had said to Mr. Reid relative to the development of our comprehensive proposal which we feel to be very important. I also said that we wished and planned to consult with the Australians on this matter. As a result of this conversation, Mr. Hasluck said he would telegraph Canberra in an effort to get permission to defer the submission of the Australian proposals until consultation with us could take place. Apparently, Mr. Hasluck, as have the Canadians, has been under pressure from home to submit their proposals to the Assembly promptly.” (USUN Files)

    For text of the Australian proposal introduced at the 30th Meeting of the First Committee, November 28, also a revision of the Soviet draft, see GA (I/2), First Committee, p. 337.

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