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

320/8–2150: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the United States Representative at the United Nations ( Austin )

confidential

Washington , August 21, 1950—5 p. m.

171. Dept wld appreciate info as to type of resolution Secretariat contemplates GA adopting on Lie peace memorandum and what Secretariat has in mind re procedural handling this item in GA, including question Committee referral.¹ Forurinfo our ideas are included in FM paper pouched Popper to Ross.²

Acheson

1. On July 21 the United Nations Secretariat placed the Secretary-General’s peace program on the provisional agenda for the fifth regular session of the General Assembly (U.N. Doc. A/1293); this became Item 60 of the final agenda. In a note dated July 26 (U.N. Doc. A/1304) the Secretary-General communicated to the General Assembly a copy of his 10-point memorandum and letter which was sent to the Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the United Nations on June 6; see GA (V), Annexes, II–60, p. 1.

2. David H. Popper of the Office of United Nations Political and Security Affairs and John C. Ross, Deputy United States Representative on the Security Council. The reference is to a paper, SFM D–2, dated August 16, entitled “Coordinated Approach to Lie Peace Proposals and Soviet ‘Peace Propaganda’ Including Means Whereby West May Take Initiative on this Subject in General Assembly.” This was prepared for use at a meeting of the Secretary of State and the British and French Foreign Ministers to be held in New York in mid-September ahead of the opening of the General Assembly session. Documentation on this meeting is scheduled for publication in volume iii.

   As indicated by the title, the Department’s objective was to generate “a program for peace rather than merely making a defensive response to a new Soviet ‘peace appeal’ and to fit the Lie peace proposals into some such context:

   “Our attitude toward the Trygve Lie memorandum should be sympathetic. We should associate ourselves with its broad objectives—to employ Charter principles and United Nations resources on a long-term basis to relieve tensions and move toward lasting peace. We should as far as possible avoid detailed consideration by the Assembly of each specific proposal in the memorandum but should utilize the proposals as appropriate in argumentation in support of our major political items and in refutation of points made by the USSR in its ‘peace plan’.”

   Mr. Ross advanced tentative recommendations for this coordinated approach to the Lie memorandum in U.S.-U.K.-French conversations held on the official level at New York on August 21, to prepare the agenda for the September ministerial meeting. Documentation on the September meeting of Foreign Ministers is scheduled for publication in volume iii.