IO Files: US(P)/A/12
United States Delegation Working Paper
Review of Slates Situation
1. As the first plenary session held on September 21, Mr. Evatt1 of Australia was elected as President on the second ballot, and the following committee chairmen were also elected:
| Committee I | Spaak (Belgium) |
| Committee II | Santa Cruz (Chile) (2nd ballot) |
| Committee III | Malik (Lebanon) |
| Committee IV | Entezam (Iran) |
| Committee V | Wilgrees (Canada) |
| Committee VI | Alfaro (Panama) (2nd ballot) |
2. Upon the conclusion of the elections for Committee chairmen, M. Spaak, supported by Sir Hartley Shawcross of the United Kingdom, suggested that the meeting be adjourned in order to give delegates time for consultations with regard to the election of the seven vice-presidents, in accordance with the terms of Rule 27 of the Rules of Procedure, which states that “the vice-presidents shall be elected, after the election of the chairmen of the six main committees … on the basis of insuring the representative character of the General Committee”.
3. The seven members of the General Committee elected on September 21 include two representatives of the British Commonwealth, two Latin Americans, two Near and Middle Eastern representatives, and one western European. In accordance with the usual practice, the [Page 137] United States would be expected at the next plenary session to vote for the principal delegates of the Five Major Powers as vice-presidents. The Delegation has also been committed to vote for Romulo (Philippines) and Mr. Padilla Nervo (Mexico) as the sixth and seventh vice-presidents. The objective of the Spaak-Shawcross maneuver of postponing the election of the vice-presidents is to secure one vice-presidency for an eastern European state in addition to the Soviet Union. This is desirable because the eastern European bloc, which originally held three seats on the General Committee, is now in danger of being reduced to a single seat. If this should occur, the eastern bloc might claim that it is being pushed out of active participation in the direction of General Assembly affairs.
4. The United States has been planning for a General Committee in which the Soviet Union and an additional eastern European state would be represented. The Delegation voted for the candidate of Eastern Europe, (Prochazka of Czechoslovakia) for the chairmanship of Committee VI. Although we are committed to Padilla Nervo, M. Spaak has undertaken to determine whether we cannot be released from our commitment to Padilla Nervo for the vice-presidency in order to find a place for an eastern European state. This would reduce the Latin American representation on the General Committee to two seats. M. Spaak will apparently attempt to convince Padilla Nervo that he should run for the vice-chairmanship of Committee I rather than for a vice-presidency, in order that active control of that Committee may be in good hands while M. Spaak is absent from Paris.
Recommendation: That the Delegation honor its commitments to Messrs. Romulo and Padilla Nervo unless M. Spaak succeeds in securing a release from one of those commitments, presumably the commitment to Padilla Nervo. In this case, however, the Delegation would support an eastern European candidate for the last remaining vice-presidency.
- Mr. H. V. Evatt was elected President of the General Assembly; for the proceedings on September 21, see United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, Third Session, Part I, Plenary Meetings, pp. 23–24. (Hereafter cited as GA (III)/1, Plenary.)↩