Office of the Historian

IO Files: US/A/1141

Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by Mr. John C. Ross, Deputy to the United States Representative at the United Nations (Austin)

[New York,] July 26, 1948.

Mr. Kyrou2 telephoned to ask me what was behind the request made by the United States that the question of amendment of the Rule 149 of the Assembly’s Rules be put on the agenda for this fall (A/582, 22 July).

After checking with Bill Hall in the Department, I spoke to Mr. Kyrou on July 23 and told him that as he knew, the United States had consistently held to the principle that no Member of the United Nations should contribute more than one-third of the budget of the Organization. Committee 5 had considered this matter last year and voted to postpone further consideration for a year. We wanted to make very sure that this item was reconsidered at the General Assembly this fall and we very much hoped that the principle of the maximum one-third contribution might at least be established. This does not, of course, necessarily mean that we might not be willing to continue for another year our somewhat larger contribution.

  1. Alexis Kyrou, Permanent Representative of Greece at the United Nations. United Nations document A/582, July 21, 1948 read:

    “The acting United States representative at the seat of the United Nations presents his compliments to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and has the honour to submit the following item for inclusion in the agenda of the third regular session of the General Assembly of the United Nations:

    “Amendment of rule 149 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly to provide for the recognition of the principle of a percentage ceiling in the scale of assessments to meet expenses of the United Nations.”

    (United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, Third Session, Part I, Plenary Meetings, Annexes, p. 4. Hereafter cited as GA (III/1), Plenary, Annexes.)

    ↩