IO Files: US/A/23131
Minutes of Meeting of the United Nations Liaison Committee,2 Washington, Department of State, May 29, 1950
| Present: | Mr. Popper, Chairman—UNP |
| Mr. Gerig3—UND | |
| Mr. Allen4—EUR | |
| Miss McNutt5—FE | |
| Mr. Howard—NEA6 | |
| Mr. Wilson—AR7 | |
| Miss Bell—UNE8 | |
| Miss Gough—UNP9 |
1. Security Council Slate
Noting that two of the three places on the slate were firm (Brazil to replace Cuba and Turkey to replace Egypt), the Chairman asked for the views of the Team on the Danish candidacy for the Norwegian [Page 97] seat. The British had indicated that they favored the Danish candidacy and had requested the Department’s views. The British had also referred to an earlier conversation with Mr. Raynor quoting him as stating that there was a “gentlemen’s agreement” that the Scandinavian and Benelux countries would rotate the Western European seat between them, had indicated that the Foreign Office was not aware of such an agreement, and had requested further information. Mr. Allen said that he had not been able to find any indication in the files that such an agreement existed but that the matter would be checked further when Mr. Raynor returned. EUR felt that Denmark might be inclined to dodge issues and would not be as strong a member of the SC as Norway had been but that if it was the European candidate we should go along. After some discussion, it was agreed that Mr. Raynor should indicate to the British that we did not feel that Denmark would be a strong member of the Council but that in the absence of other candidates in the Western European area, we would support its candidacy.
2. Slate for the TC
The Team agreed that unless another Latin American candidate emerged we would support the Dominican Republic to succeed itself but that for the time being we would not indicate our support to the Dominican Republic. Mr. Wilson would check to see whether the Dominican Republic had, as it claimed, the support of most of the Latin American states.
With respect to the Philippine seat, the Team considered re-election of that state and its replacement by Thailand, Burma, India or Pakistan. It was agreed that in general states should not be re-elected to the Council. The Dominican Republic would not actually be re-elected because it was serving the unexpired term of Costa Rica. It was pointed out that the Philippines would not be deprived of a platform as spokesman for the non-colonial states since it was a member of the Special Article 73(e) Committee for two more years. Miss McNutt stated that FE felt that if we did not support re-election of the Philippines to the TC, it would be necessary to support its candidacy for ECOSOC. The Team agreed to eliminate India and Burma from the possible slate, India because it was presently a member of the SC and ECOSOC and Burma because it did not send strong representatives to UN meetings. The Team agreed tentatively, subject to FE reservation, to slate Thailand or Pakistan to succeed the Philippines.
3. Slate for the ECOSOC
It was agreed that we would support the re-election of the UK and the USSR. It was also tentatively agreed that since the Commonwealth [Page 98] had five seats on the Council and the Arab League was not represented, we would support the election of Egypt to replace Australia. The Team then considered whether an Eastern European state should replace Poland or whether a state from another area should have the Polish seat. It was pointed out that if the Polish seat were retained for Eastern Europe it might be necessary to choose between the Philippines and Sweden for the Danish seat. Sweden would be a valuable member of the Council and yet it would be difficult not to support the Philippines. It was agreed that the Team would consider further the following three candidates for the Polish and Danish seats: Sweden, the Philippines and a satellite.
See attached paper for the status of the Council slates.
- Short title for the master files of the Reference and Documents Section of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Department of State.↩
- The United Nations Liaison Committee (UNLC) was a Departmental committee made up of representatives of the Bureau of United Nations Affairs (UNA), the geographic bureaus, and such other bureaus and offices as appropriate in the circumstances. Organized in 1946, the primary function of UNLC by 1950 had become that of making a preliminary selection at the working level of the Department of U.S. “slates” of candidates for election to the various United Nations organs, committees, and commissions.↩
- O. Benjamin Gerig, Director of the Office of Dependent Area Affairs.↩
- Ward P. Allen, Special Assistant on United Nations Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs.↩
- Louise McNutt, Special Assistant on United Nations Affairs, Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs.↩
- Harry N. Howard, United Nations Adviser, Bureau of Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs.↩
- Probably Simon N. Wilson, assistant to John C. Dreier, Director of the Office of American Regional Affairs.↩
- Mary Kathleen Bell of the Office of United Nations Economic and Social Affairs.↩
- Betty Catherine Gough of the Office of United Nations Political and Security Affairs.↩
- Brackets within the document appear in the source text.↩