560.AL/1–1646: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
us urgent
[Received 7:41 p.m.]
528. From Stinebower and Hawkins. Following are our comments and suggestions on proposals in your 405, January 14.
We are in general agreement with the proposal as outlined which [Page 1273] runs along the same lines as our thinking. The Department should bear in mind the delicate nature of the attempt to induce ECOSOC to sponsor not only our main idea but machinery which we have already begun to develop. Some of our following comments are conditioned on the assumption that the most important element in the outline is securing ratification of the preparatory (nuclear) group as the agent of ECOSOC (your paragraph 3). If we can obtain this, it may be worthwhile to give way on some other items.
The prospects of securing approval for the essentials of your outline are strengthened by fact that 8 of the 18 members of ECOSOC are among the countries which have accepted invitations to prepare our negotiations and two countries (USSR and Czechoslovakia) are among the invitees.
At this stage we are not able to judge the prospects of getting the full list of countries set forth in your paragraph 2 invited to the conference but will bear them in mind as our desiderata. On this point and location of the conference we think the US should, if necessary, take the same flexible position as set forth in paragraph 1 relating to date.
We agree that agenda, your paragraph 4, need not be rigidly held to our “proposals” but believe that we should seek to limit the agenda to the five major subjects of our “proposals” and any additions should be such as to fall in one of them. Ecuador has already reintroduced the proposal on which they were defeated in PRECO25 to call a conference on the stabilization of international prices by which they explain they mean measures to increase the prices of raw materials in comparison with prices of finished goods. We shall oppose but cannot yet forecast what action General Assembly will take.
First meeting of ECOSOC now set for January 23. We shall presumably have to introduce any agenda proposals very soon thereafter and therefore need prompt indication whether you want to proceed along the lines above indicated.26 [Stinebower and Hawkins.]
- This refers to the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations which met at London in November and December, 1945; documentation on certain United States interests that were advanced at this meeting is found in Foreign Relations, 1945, vol. i, pp. 1433 ff., although the subject adverted to here is not covered as such.↩
- The Economic and Social Council began its session on January 23 as indicated. Documentation including briefing papers and position books for United States delegations to the Economic and Social Council beginning with the second session of ECOSOC is found in the files of the Reference and Documents Section of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs in the Department of State (hereafter referred to as the IO files). No preparatory documentation as such seems to have been made up for the delegation to ECOSOC’s first session.↩