IO Files: US/A/Site/6
Memorandum by Mr. I. N. P. Stokes of the Staff of the United States Delegation to Senator Austin
Subject: Permanent Headquarters
Summary of Present Situation
The Subcommittee of the Committee on Headquarters is expected to complete its inspection of sites on Saturday, November 30, and to meet on Monday, December 2, or the following day to consider its recommendations to the full Committee as to the site or sites which it deems best. As far as I have been able to sense the feelings of the Subcommittee, the prevailing opinion in the Subcommittee is as follows:
- (1)
- The best site, considering local conditions only and without reference to distance from Europe, is the Presidio in San Francisco.
- (2)
- The next best site is the Belmont Plateau and nearby lands offered as a gift by the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
- (3)
- There are attractive sites in the neighborhood of New York, but they are expensive, not immediately adjacent to the City and the local opposition has created serious complications. No one seems to like the Flushing Meadows site which is offered as a gift by New York City.
- (4)
- The sites offered in the neighborhood of Boston are not very suitable for building purposes.
- (5)
- Most of the members of the Subcommittee would rather live in New York or Boston than in Philadelphia, but the beauty and convenience of the site offered in Philadelphia and the generous and clear-cut nature of the offer outweigh this factor.
- (6)
- Our best information is that out of the 54 Member Nations 16 favor San Francisco, 15 favor the East Coast and the remaining 22 either have not decided or do not particularly care and would follow the lead of the United States. Of those favoring the East Coast six would follow our lead in either event. In all probability the site selected will be whichever one the United States favors. If this result is to be achieved, however, it is important that the United States position be made known before a vote is taken in the Subcommittee.
[Here follows a description in some detail of each of the sites examined by the subcommittee with a discussion of the respective merits and draw-backs of each location.59]
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For the report of the Sub-Committee (which became known as Sub-Committee 1), see GA(I/2), Headquarters Committee, pp. 171–206, annex 7. The recommendations, followed by lengthy appendices, read: “On the basis of the data set forth above, the Sub-Committee considers itself in a position to recommend to the Committee one of the following sites: in the first instance, the site of Belmont-Roxborough, Philadelphia, and the site of the Presidio, San Francisco, these two sites being regarded as of equal merit; in the second instance, the White Plains site, in Westchester County, New York.
“The views of certain members of the Sub-Committee are attached as annexes.” (Ibid., p. 188)
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