315.3/9–1153
The Under Secretary of State for Administration (Lourie) to the Attorney General of the United States (Brownell)
My Dear Mr. Attorney General: The Reverend Guthrie Michael Scott, who was the subject of the Department’s letter dated October 6, 1952 and of a communication from the Immigration and Naturalization Service dated October 13, 1952,1 has applied at the American Embassy at London, England, for a visa to proceed to the United Nations Headquarters, New York, New York, for the purpose of attending the eighth regular session of the General Assembly of the United Nations which will convene on September 15, 1953.
Under date of August 20, 1953 the Department was informed by the United States Mission to the United Nations that the International League for the Rights of Man, an organization which has been granted category B consultative status by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, has appointed the Reverend Mr. Scott as its representative to the eighth regular session of the General Assembly of the United Nations and, accordingly, he is to be considered as coming within the provisions of Section 11 (5) of the Headquarters Agreement.
The Reverend Mr. Scott previously entered the United States on several occasions, the most recent being in 1952 when his temporary admission was authorized on October 9, 1952 pursuant to the authority contained in the Ninth Proviso to Section 3 of the Immigration Act [Page 307] of February 5, 1917, as amended it having been found that he was inadmissible into the United States under Section 1(2) of the Act of October 16, 1918 as amended because of former voluntary membership in the Communist Party of Great Britain.
The Embassy at London has submitted a report indicating that Mr. Scott, born at Lowfield Heath, England on July 30, 1907, is a British subject, unmarried, whose present address is “Little Gardens” Layer de le Haye near Colchester, Essex, England. The report further states that he has resided in: Great Britain, South Africa, India, Switzerland and the United States, that he is a clergyman in the Church of England; a Director of the Africa Bureau; that he served in the Royal Air Force in 1940–41 and that he desires to be in the United States for the opening of the eighth regular session of the General Assembly on September 15, 1953.
The report from the Embassy further indicates that Mr. Scott’s ineligibility to receive a visa is based on the same grounds as in 1950 and 1952, i.e., former membership in the Communist Party.
The Embassy at London also advised that Mr. Scott had declined to state, on grounds of principle, with what organizations he had been affiliated and that he also declined, for the same reason, to swear that he is not and never has been a member of the Communist or other totalitarian parties. The Department considers, since the replies to the question of affiliation would tend, at most, to make Mr. Scott ineligible to receive a visa under Section 212(a) (28) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which the Department considers him to be on the basis of adequate security information on file, that his failure to answer is not material.
At the time Mr. Scott’s application for a visa was under consideration by the Department in 1952, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency furnished the Department with reports concerning this subject. …The Department understands that these agencies also furnished these reports directly to you.
State Department files reveal no information of a security nature tending to show anything not indicated in the aforementioned reports.
In view of the fact that Mr. Scott comes within the provisions of Section 11(5) of the Headquarter Agreement, it is requested that you exercise your discretionary authority for his temporary admission under Section 212(d) (3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
In as much as Mr. Scott desires to be present when the eighth session of the General Assembly convenes, on September 15, 1953, the Department would appreciate your urgent attention in this matter.
Sincerely yours,