Office of the Historian

868.50/5–2047

Memorandum by Mr. William O. Baxter of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs to the Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs (Henderson)

[Washington,] May 20, 1947.

In connection with the attached memo1 suggesting the possibility of a request from the Greek Government concurred in by the U.S. Government to Secretary-General Lie to assign a United Nations liaison officer to Greece to cooperate with the U.S. Aid Mission, I attended a meeting this afternoon in Mr. Stokes office. It was the general [Page 174] consensus of the meeting that such an action at this time might prove dangerous. It would appear that the United States was trying by this means to forestall any attempt of the United Nations or the Security Council to observe our aid program and might be an open wedge for the extensive kind of observation recently proposed by Mr. Gromyko. It was suggested that after the U.S. Mission is operating in Greece, it might make suggestions to the Greek Government that the latter request the assistance of technical experts of various sorts from appropriate United Nations organizations.

In the meantime, however, no action or definite recommendation will be made by the Department though the views of Senator Austin and Mr. Johnson2 will be informally solicited.3

  1. Not printed; the “Memorandum for Discussion in United Nations Liaison Committee” on official relations between the United Nations and the American Mission for Aid to Greece was drafted by Isaac N. P. Stokes, Associate Chief of the Division of International Affairs, on May 13.↩
  2. Herschel V. Johnson, United States Deputy Representative on the United Nations Security Council.↩
  3. Marginal notation by Mr. Henderson: “I feel that it would be unfortunate for us to make any move to encourage UN observers to watch over our activities in Greece. The mere presence of such observers might encourage the Communists and their sympathizers to sabotage our efforts. I believe the Greek Government would not want observers, particularly at this stage. I see no reason for the views of anyone to be obtained with regard to a matter which is so clear as this.”↩