Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, General; the United Nations, Volume I, Part 1

IO Files: US(P)/A/C.L/143

Memorandum of Conversation by Dr. Frank P. Corrigan of the United States Delegation Advisory Staff

confidential

[Paris,] October 18, 1948.

Subject: Mexican Resolution re the Great Powers

Participants:	Ambassador Luis Padilla Nervo, Mexican Delegation
	Dr. Frank P. Corrigan, United States Delegation

Ambassador Luis Padilla Nervo has discussed with me on a number of occasions the reasons which have convinced him of the need for the resolution which he recently introduced in the General Committee (this item has now been allocated to Committee I). This resolution is entitled: “Appeal to the Great Powers to renew their efforts to compose their differences and establish a lasting peace.” It goes back beyond the organization of the United Nations and expresses confidence that the great Allied Powers would determine their policy in the spirit of the declaration which they subscribed in the Crimea. It recalls also the Atlantic Charter and the Churchill–Roosevelt–Stalin declaration signed at Yalta. It also recommends that the Powers associate with them in the performance of such a noble task the states signatories of the Washington declaration of 1 January 1942 either through the General Assembly or by means of a special conference of all the states which subscribed or adhered to that declaration. He repeated his previously expressed conviction that no decision is possible in the Security Council on matters such as, for instance, the Berlin question, about which the Soviets and the Western Powers are diametrically opposed. He feels therefore that eventually the whole problem will in some way or other at some time reach the General Assembly. He thinks that if his resolution had been previously adopted it will furnish a point of reference and help to set the level of the discussions which will ensue. This debate would then place the controversy before world public opinion in such a way as to justify in the eyes of the world whatever serious eventualities that might develop. While he did not say so in so many words I got the impression that he meant a clear-cut presentation and justification of any measures which might have to be taken, including armed conflict.¹

1. The First Committee began consideration of this item on October 20; for the proceedings, see United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, Third Session, Part I, First Committee, pp. 218 ff. (Hereafter cited as GA(III/1), First Committee.)