501.BC Armaments/9–2548: Telegram
The Secretary of State, in Paris, to the Acting Secretary of State
Delga 117. Following is unofficial text, as handed to press, of resolution submitted by USSR at GA Plenary on September 25:1
“Noting that up to the present time practically nothing has been done to implement the Assembly’s decisions of January 24, 1946 on atomic energy as well as the decision of December 14 ‘on principles governing the general regulation and reduction of armaments’; recognizing the task of prohibition of production and use of atomic energy for war aims as a task of the first importance; recognizing that general substantial reduction of armaments satisfies the demands for establishing durable peace and strengthening international security and is compatible with the interests of the nations in making easier the heavy economic burden they bear as a result of excessive and ever-increasing expenditures for armaments in various countries; taking into account that the great powers—permanent members of the SC—possess the overwhelming number of armed forces and armaments and bear the main responsibility for maintenance of peace and universal security; for the purpose of strengthening the cause of peace, and eliminating the threat of a new war fomented by expansionists and other reactionary elements;
The GA recommends to the permanent members of the SC, the USA, Great Britain, the USSR, France, and China, as the first step in reduction of armaments and armed forces to reduce for one-third during one year all present land, naval and air forces;
The GA recommends to prohibit atomic weapons as weapons intended for the aims of aggression and not for those of defense;
The GA recommends to establish within the framework of the SC an international control body for the purpose of the supervision of and control over the implementation of the measures for the reduction of armaments and armed forces for the prohibition of atomic weapons.”
- The draft resolution which follows, A/658, was introduced by Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union and Chairman of the Soviet Delegation, during his address before the 143rd Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly, September 25 (during the general debate phase of proceedings). Vyshinsky’s statement constituted a far-ranging denunciation of United States policy. The Soviet representative devoted considerable attention to the alleged failure of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission for Conventional Armaments to achieve positive results. For the record of Vyshinsky’s address, including the official text of the resolution-printed here, see United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly; Third Session, First Part, Plenary Meetings, pp. 118–136. (Hereafter cited as GA (III/1), Plenary.)↩