Editorial Note
On November 15, 1948 the General Assembly at Paris established an Ad Hoc Political Committee to ease the pressure on the First Committee; and transferred to the new committee generally agenda items relating to organizational and constitutional matters, including the items concerning the admission of new members. The Ad Hoc Political Committee considered these subjects in detail at eleven meetings on November 22–27 and at two more meetings on December 1 and 2. On the first day of its deliberations, the committee was informed of the views of the United States, substantially along the lines indicated in the preceding paper (see United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, Third Session, Part I, Ad Hoc Political Committee, pages 75–78). Subsequently the United States delegate on the committee, Benjamin V. Cohen, submitted to the committee a draft resolution calling for Security Council re-examination of the application of Austria (United Nations document A/AC.24/13). The United States Delegation at Paris had considered the membership question in a lengthy meeting on November 14, the minutes of which are not printed (IO Files, document US(P)/A/M (Chr)/31).
In its report to the General Assembly on admission of new members the Ad Hoc Political Committee recommended that the General Assembly invite the attention of the Security Council to the Advisory Opinion of the International Court and request the Council specifically to re-examine the applications of Portugal, Transjordan, Italy, Finland, Ireland, Austria and Ceylon (GA (III/1), Plenary, Annexes, pages 504 ff.). This the General Assembly did after debate in three meetings on December 8; for the proceedings see GA (III/1), Plenary, pages 767 ff.; for the statement by the United States Representative (Cohen) in support of the report, see ibid., pages 771 ff. For text of Resolution 197 (III), see GA (III/1), Resolutions, pages 30 ff.
There is a useful collection of United States Delegation documents in manuscript on the phase of the Paris membership question in Office Lot File (IO/UNP) 59D237, Box 7210, Folder “Membership”.