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

Statement by the Secretary of State, June 26 1947, on the Occasion of the Signing of the Permanent Headquarters Agreement¹

July 6, 1947

The second anniversary of the signing of the Charter of the United Nations at San Francisco is a fitting occasion for the signature of this agreement defining the arrangements for the establishment of the permanent headquarters of the United Nations.

The United States is conscious of the honor which has been bestowed upon it by the selection of a site for the headquarters in this country. It is also conscious of its obligations as the host of the United Nations to make arrangements which will be satisfactory in every way so that the United Nations may carry on its great work under auspicious conditions.

It is not merely the Federal Government which is in the position of host to the United Nations. The State and City of New York share this honor with all our people. Representatives of the State and City participated in negotiation of this agreement, and the Legislature of the State has enacted enabling legislation. Before the agreement comes into effect it will, of course, be submitted to the Congress of the United States and to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

In this, as in other matters, it will continue to be the central purpose of the United States foreign policy to advance and strengthen the United Nations, so that we may, in the words of the Charter, “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind.”

1. Reprinted from Department of State Bulletin, July 6, 1947. Secretary Marshall made a trip to Lake Success, N.Y., temporary headquarters of the United Nations, for the express purpose of the signing. For text of the agreement, released to the press on the same date, see Ibid.

   The principal issues to be resolved in the last stage of the negotiation, April–June, related to the application of United States immigration and deportation laws to personnel of the United Nations and national delegations to the United Nations and their staffs, and to the privilege of diplomatic residence in the United States (sections 11–15). The final text embodied a precision as to the rights and obligations of both the United States and the United Nations not reflected in earlier drafts.

   A useful short summary of the history of the negotiation and the issues involved from the United Nations point of view is contained in the relevant report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to the General Assembly in U.N. Doc. A/371, September 3, 1947, found in depository libraries of the United Nations and in L/UNA Files, Department of State.