320/1–2352: Telegram
The Acting Chairman of the United States Delegation to the General Assembly (Roosevelt) to the Secretary of State
priority
Delga 1149. Subject: membership. Following is text of letter dated Jan 22 from Guidotti (Ital) to Gross, referred to in Delga 1148:1
“The Brazilian Amb, M. Muniz, has related to me a conversation he had with you today. Following this conversation, Amb Muniz, who had previously told me he wld advise his govt to vote in favor of the Russian draft res, declared that he wld now have to vote against.
“This makes me realize that, in spite of various exchanges of views I had honor to have with you in these days, 1 was still labouring under most serious misunderstanding. I had impression that your del, although strongly opposed on principle to Russian proposal, wld do nothing that wld interfere with formation of possible majority of seven votes in its favor, in SC. In fact it seemed to me that it was only on this condition that the possibility of your del abstaining in presence of seven favorable votes cld have a meaning. The result of your conversation with Amb Muniz clearly shows that I was wrong in my assumption.
“In these circumstances, not only wld the formation of the indispensable majority of seven votes which was, of course the preliminary condition for abstention of your del and consequently for ultimate success of such an action, be utterly impossible, but I feel very strongly that any further effort in that direction wld place both my govt and myself in a most unpleasant predicament.
“You will, therefore, understand that I am compelled to report this state of affairs to my govt and, pending their instructions, abstain from undertaking any further efforts which, under these circumstances, would prove to be both undignified and pointless.”
- The letter text is in USUN Files.↩