Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, The United Nations; The Western Hemisphere, Volume II

320/9–1950: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Acting Secretary of State

confidential

New York, September 19, 1950—11:35 p. m.

Delga 9. For Sandifer from Popper.¹ We intend submit agenda item “United Action for Peace” together with following explanatory memorandum under covering letter to Lie from Secretary at time delivery speech in general debate.² Since Secretary may possibly speak by end plenary tomorrow morning, Department is requested submit any comments urgently.

“The Charter gives the GA important functions to perform in the field of international peace and security, including the right to discuss any question relating to this field and the right to make recommendations. The experience of the UN in the five years since the Charter came into force has demonstrated the value of the Assembly’s role. In the view of the US, the Assembly’s contribution can be enhanced both with respect to the avoidance of conflicts and with respect to the restoration of peace if need arises.

“The UN found it most helpful to have in Korea a commission which could and did report authoritatively on the events of June 1950 in that country. The US believes that the Assembly should now establish and maintain in being a UN peace observation commission, available to travel or send observers to any area of international tension or conflict; the reporting of such a commission would provide reliable information to the UN as a basis for the consideration of problems by the SC or GA.³

“The GA should be enabled to meet on very short notice in case of any breach of international peace or act of aggression if the SC, because of veto, is unable to discharge its primary responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security. To this end, the US proposes that the Assembly make provision for emergency special sessions to be convoked at the request of either a majority of UN members or any seven members of the SC.

“UN military forces, pursuant to Article 43 of the Charter, have not yet been established. In this important respect the structure and machinery of the UN are incomplete. To fill the gap, pending the conclusion of agreements in accordance with Article 43, the US believes the GA should recommend to the members of the UN that they designate within their national armed forces UN units so trained and equipped⁴ as to be available for prompt service on behalf of the UN, upon either a determination by the SC or a recommendation of the GA. The US believes that each member should be invited by the Assembly to survey its resources in order to determine what assistance it could render in accordance with any UN action to restore international peace and security.⁵ To assist in making these planning measures effective, the GA should establish an ad hoc committee to study the means which the UN might employ through collective action to suppress breaches of the peace and repel acts of aggression.⁶ The US favors also the appointment of a UN military adviser to consult with members wishing to designate UN units and assist them in the organization, training and equipping of such forces.

“These measures which the US proposes are, of course, without prejudice to the work of the SC in discharging its primary responsibility. In fact, the SC should be expected to avail itself of reporting by the UN peace observation commission and of the services of UN units designated by members.⁷

“In conclusion, it should be emphasized that these proposals have the primary aim of preventing breaches of the peace and deterring acts of aggression. Readiness of the UN to deal with such eventualities under all circumstances should⁸ minimize the necessity of resorting to measures for the restoration of international peace and security. The purpose of the US proposals is to give maximum effectiveness to UN efforts in keeping the peace.”

[Popper]

Acheson

1. Mr. Popper was Principal Executive Officer of the United States Delegation to the General Assembly.
2. For the text of the Secretary of State’s letter to Secretary-General Lie, see United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifth Session, Annexes, vol. ii, fascicule 68, p. 2 (U.N. Doc. A/1378); hereafter cited as GA (V), Annexes, vol. ii. For Secretary Acheson’s note of September 20 together with the official text of the “Explanatory Memorandum,” see ibid., pp. 2 and 3; the memorandum was submitted substantially as quoted here but indicated changes are to be noted. For the verbatim text of Mr. Acheson’s address to the General Assembly on September 20, see United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifth Session, Plenary Meetings, vol. i, pp. 23 ff.; hereafter cited as GA (V), Plenary, vol. i.
3. This and the next paragraph were reversed in the final text.
4. The words “and maintained” were inserted here in the final text.
5. In the final text, this sentence was placed so as to be the last sentence of the paragraph.
6. This sentence was removed from the paragraph in the final text, and became a one-sentence paragraph as indicated in the next footnote.
7. This paragraph was eliminated in the final text, and replaced by the sentence beginning “To assist in making. …”
8. In the final text, the words “Readiness of the UN to deal with such eventualities under all circumstances should” were excised, and the first and second sentences were joined so as to read, “… and deterring acts of aggression and thereby minimizing the necessity. …”