Office of the Historian

IO Files: US/A/M (Chr)/143

Minutes of the Eighth Meeting of the United States Delegation to the General Assembly, New York, September 27, 1950, 9:15 a. m.

New York, September 27, 1950, 9:15 a.m.
secret

[Here follows list of persons present (47). The Secretary of State presided.]

1. Slate for the Economic and Social Council (SD/A/232)1

Mr. Popper explained that our slate was firm as regards five of the six candidates. We had not yet decided whether to support Sweden or an Eastern European state for the sixth place on the Council. If Sweden were supported, the Eastern European states would maintain only two of the eighteen places on the Council. A broad canvass of other delegations with respect to their views on maintaining Eastern European representation at the same level had not disclosed widespread sentiment in favor of an Eastern European candidate, although the French favored this choice and the British were still undecided. Mr. Popper recommended that the Delegation support Sweden on the first ballot rather than an Eastern European state. The Delegation approved this recommendation.2

[Here follows discussion of other agenda items.]

  1. Doc. SD/A/232 was dated September 6; see p. 119. At a briefing meeting of the Delegation in Washington on September 8 there was lengthy inconclusive discussion of the question of the ECOSOC slate (Minutes of Briefing Session of the U.S. Delegation, Washington, September 8, 10 a. m. Doc. US/A/M (Chr)/135, IO Files, not printed). It had been pointed Out by Department officers that although Eastern Europe was over-represented in United Nations bodies, particularly ECOSOC, “there was considerable doubt as to the wisdom of reducing Eastern European representation at a time when it would obviously be regarded as provocative by the USSR.” It was further pointed out that other regional groupings were reluctant to reduce Eastern European representation, fearing “a similar cut” in the representation of their own areas.↩
  2. The following states were elected to ECOSOC by the General Assembly on September 29 on the first ballot: the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Uruguay, the Philippines, Poland, and Sweden.↩