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

IO Files

Memorandum by Miss Dorothy Fosdick of the Office of European Affairs to the Director of the Office of European Affairs (Matthews)

secret

[Washington,] July 18, 1947.

Subject: U.S. Policies at the Second Session of the United Nations General Assembly

At a recent meeting of the General Assembly steering group (composed of SPA, the four geographic offices and LE), Mr. Rusk¹ stated that, in addition to the items now on the provisional agenda for the General Assembly, thought is being given in the Department to proposals that the United States itself might wish to bring before the General Assembly, in line with the basic objectives of our foreign policy.² Mr. Rusk then presented three tentative proposals, as follows, which no doubt will receive further consideration in the Department, and which I want to bring to your attention:

1. Commission of the Assembly on Indirect Aggression. We might advocate at the next session of the Assembly that a permanent commission be established to investigate threats, wherever they occur in the world, against the integrity of states through infiltration, subversive actions of minorities or other measures falling short of outright armed aggression. Such a commission, composed of twenty-one states, might be formally constituted at the fall Assembly and be asked to report to a special session in March, 1948. This proposal would afford a concrete way of approaching the problem of Russian aggression in southeast Europe. The discussion in the Assembly on this proposal would afford an opportunity for stating the case against Russian infiltration and assault on the integrity of such states as Greece, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and Austria.

2. Action for the Control of Atomic Energy. We might request the General Assembly at its fall session to call upon the Atomic Energy Commission to produce a draft treaty for the control of atomic energy, such treaty to be ready for submission to a special session of the General Assembly early in 1948. This proposal would clarify the status of negotiations for the control of atomic energy. At present, public opinion has the impression that some progress is being made in this field, when, as a matter of fact, a complete impasse prevails.

3. Mutual Assistance Pact. We might supplement the provisions of Chapters VI and VII of the Charter by proposing a worldwide treaty of mutual assistance, along the lines of the Act of Chapultepec, under Article 51 of the Charter. It would be the purpose of such multilateral mutual assistance treaty to complement the proposed twenty-one state commission on aggression by infiltration, since the treaty would deal with overt aggression. The treaty would provide that in case of armed conflict, the parties to the treaty would automatically support each other. This might prove a further deterrent to a potential aggressor, and also strengthen the hands of less powerful states attempting to combat infiltration.

I agreed that we would give further thought in EUR to these proposals and to others which might usefully be made by us to the General Assembly. Do you think it might be worthwhile to convene a meeting of the Division Chiefs in EUR for a frank discussion of these proposals?³

1. Dean Rusk, Director of the Office of Special Political Affairs.
2. For reference source materials on this Departmental effort in July, August, and September, prior to the meeting of the General Assembly, see footnote 1, p. 166.
3. Further discussion between interested offices in the Department resulted in a memorandum by Mr. Rusk to the Under Secretary of State (Lovett), dated July 23, p. 567.