Office of the Historian

IO Files: US(P)/A/M(Chr)/30

Minutes of the Thirtieth Meeting of the United States Delegation to the General Assembly, Hotel d’Iéna, Paris, November 18, 1948, 9:15 a. m.

Paris, November 18, 1948, 9:15 a.m.
secret

[Here follow a list of persons (31) present and discussion of various subjects.]

6. Disarmament: Report of the First Committee

Mr. Osborn explained that all delegations recognized the Soviet proposal as pure propaganda. It would be voted down overwhelmingly. He commented that the Commission for Conventional Armaments had been a source of embarrassment for us since it was set up to plan a [Page 503] reduction of armaments, which was not presently possible, and the United States had had to fight a delaying action in the Commission. Fortunately, the USSR had brought up disarmament originally. The resulting proposal was very satisfactory to the United States. Rolin of Belgium, a great proponent of disarmament, had worked out a scheme which would mean that instead of the CCA attempting to reduce armaments and develop plans for an international agency, it would plan for the receipt, verification and publication of figures on armaments and then make plans for their presentation to the Security Council which would be in a position to set up an international agency. The effect of the proposal would be to open up the USSR to general inspection. He thought it was impossible to imagine that the USSR would accept this proposal, but it would be difficult for it to find reasons to veto the resulting action of the Security Council, once the proposal came to the Council as a result of the inspection, etc.

Mr. Dulles asked whether, if an organ was established to receive, check and publish data on armaments, the United States would be under an obligation to report if the USSR did not. Mr. Osborn said the United States would not, if the USSR did not accept. He thought, and the military advisers had agreed, that it would be possible to work out a form for the transmission of information which would be acceptable to the United States.

No further action by the Delegation was required on this matter.