Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, General; The United Nations, Volume I

IO Files: US/A/C.1/609

Memorandum by Mr. LaVerne Baldwin of the United States Delegation Staff of Advisers

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[New York,] November 19, 1947.

Vote in Committee I on Resolution for Study of Security Council Voting¹

The vote in Committee I this morning, paragraph by paragraph and by a show of hands, was as follows:

• Paragraph 1: Approved 44–6–0 with the four Scandinavian countries voting in favor and the Russian bloc against. All the six opposed raised their hands very quickly.
• Paragraph 2: Approved 35–7–11. Norway, Sweden and Denmark voted in favor; Chile joined the Russian bloc in opposition; Iceland abstained in accordance with its announced position in the Committee; other abstentions included the Arabic States. The Russian bloc was hopelessly confused on this paragraph, since Gromyko was slow in raising his hand; Poland and Yugoslavia were noticeably much later in raising their hands to the amusement of Arce and others nearby which forced Bebler to smile.
• Paragraph 3: Approved 43–1–8. The four Scandinavian States voted in favor; Bebler of Yugoslavia again crossed his signals not observing that Gromyko was not voting. Bebler was therefore the only one opposed, the other Russian bloc members abstaining.

On the whole resolution the vote was 36–6–11, with the four Scandinavian States voting in favor, the Russian bloc against.

La Verne Baldwin

1. Discussion of the United States draft resolution on the question of voting in the Security Council, begun in the First Committee on the morning of November 18, continued through a long afternoon meeting on the same day. The United States proposal came to a vote on the morning of November 19. (GA (II), First Committee, pp. 484–523)