310.2/1–552
Memorandum by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Bonbright) to the Director of the Office of Western European Affairs (Byington)
I had a talk with Mr. Hickerson this morning about the UN membership question. He feels as I do that there are too many hooks in the proposal which has been suggested in Paris. For your information, however, he privately agreed with me that we would have to do something to try to prevent the Libyans from being admitted since this would be disastrous in Italy. He felt that we might take the line that while we favor Libyan membership in the long run, it would be inappropriate for a former Italian colony, which has only just achieved independence, to be admitted to the UN until Italy herself is a Member. Mr. Hickerson seemed to feel that we could get the Latinos to go along with this position, and that if we could get the French and [Page 421] British and a few more we ought to be able to make it stick. Needless to say, there will be violent opposition from NEA and the Arab countries. I suggest that you keep this under your hat.