740.00119 Council/8–2846: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of State, at Paris
u.s. urgent
4490. Secdel 783. For the Secretary from Acheson and Clayton. As you will have seen from the press summaries, there has been much public discussion of UNRRA program for Yugoslavia (Delsec 867). [Page 932] You doubtless have seen Herbert Hoovers43 proposal that US stop this program. Amb Patterson’s alleged suggestion in the same sense has been widely publicized and Patterson has been praised by some papers and soundly criticized by newspapers like Washington Post which also severely criticized Hoover in an editorial today. We are receiving a large volume of mail on the subject. Treasury which as you know acts as procurement agent for UNRRA is also receiving many protests against the continuation of a program financed nearly three-fourths by the US on behalf of a Gov guilty of such outrageous and unfriendly conduct as Yugoslavia.
Your tel asks Clayton to do everything we properly can to stop further shipments by UNRRA to Yugoslavia. Here are the possible lines of action that we could take:
- 1.
- UNRRA is an independent international organization and the relief program for Yugoslavia was formulated by that organization. We could urgently request the Central Committee of UNRRA (headed by La Guardia and composed of representatives of nine countries) to reconsider the UNRRA program for Yugoslavia. Both of us feel strongly that it would be unwise for the US to take such action. The US Gov has taken the position since UNRRA was started that the organization works on the basis of needs without political considerations. We could of course contend that a mistake had been made in the extent of the UNRRA program and that Yugoslavia has received more than it is entitled to. We feel however that our request for a review of the program would be interpreted as a demand that UNRRA take punitive action against Yugoslavia for its outrageous conduct toward the US. UNRRA has no responsibility for punitive action against countries for political misconduct. Moreover we are doubtful whether our proposal would receive sufficient votes in the Central Committee to carry. Certainly it would receive widespread publicity and would in our opinion give the communist press good propaganda material that UNRRA is a US political instrument and not as we have insisted an international humanitarian organization.
- 2.
- We could endeavor to take administrative action to prevent priorities being given for goods intended for Yugoslavia. The difficulty about this is that UNRRA priorities are now requested without any indication of the ultimate destination of the goods. Action of this kind would almost certainly become known publicly and in our opinion would be largely ineffective.
The total cost of the UNRRA program for Yugoslavia is $429,500,000; of this amount roughly $102,000,000 was to be shipped after July 31 (the last date for which figures are available). We understand and share the widespread indignation at seeing these goods paid [Page 933] for largely with American money and shipped to a people who have treated us so outrageously. On balance however both of us feel that it would be inadvisable for the US Gov to take any action through UNRRA in an endeavor to stop or diminish shipment of the remainder of their program to Yugoslavia.
We feel that if you and the President decide that drastic action of this sort should be taken against Yugoslavia, it would be preferable for the US Gov to impose economic sanctions against the country. Presumably under the war powers we could impose an embargo on shipments from the US to Yugoslavia including exports for the account of UNRRA. This would involve action which the US Gov itself could take on its exclusive responsibility without consulting UNRRA. On the basis of info available to us here, we do not recommend such action at this time but if drastic action in this field seems to you to be advisable, we think that it should be action along this line rather than any approach through UNRRA.
At the regular meeting yesterday with the Secretaries of War and Navy, Patterson expressed the view that you should consider telegraphing La Guardia and asking him to have UNRRA immediately reconsider its Yugoslav program. Patterson said that wholly aside from Jug attitude regarding the two incidents when they shot down our planes, Yugoslavia has since the end of hostilities in Europe maintained a huge army which has menaced our interests. This huge army, he said, ought to have been demobilized and the personnel used to engage in food production and reconstruction which would have lessened the needs of the country which have been met by UNRRA. With Yugoslavia behaving the way it is, Patterson said that he felt that it was asking too much of the American people to see this program continue when the US is paying over 72% of its cost. This was prior to the receipt of your 867 and Acheson replied along the lines of the foregoing paragraphs of this tel but told Patterson that his views would be brought to your attention. [Acheson and Clayton.]
- President of the United States, 1929–1933.↩