315.3/5–2053: Telegram
The Ambassador in Sweden (Butterworth) to the Department of State
1218. UN Secretary General Hammarskjold said at well-attended press conference in Stockholm yesterday that he had previously been misunderstood or misquoted on his attitude toward question of UN personnel policy. He said he shared his predecessors standpoint but wishes to go farther by emphasizing that UN servants must not actively engage in any political activity whatsoever that does not concern UN proper; on this point he would make no distinction between “subversive” and other political activities. “I am personally inclined to apply this principle very strictly. It is essential that all UN member states have full confidence in Secretariat’s impartiality, and this in final analysis will depend on the individual UN employee. Personnel will have to choose whether to serve UN’s cause or other interests.” Asked whether application of such principles would not make it difficult to find qualified persons willing to set aside all national and ideological interests to serve UN exclusively he said he had no fears on this point.
Concerning Alva Myrdal affair he said whole question of UN delegates visa rights would be straightened out with US authorities upon his return to New York.1
- Mrs. Myrdal was a Swedish sociologist and director of the Social Science Department of UNESCO. She was denied official permission to enter the United States as a visitor on official UN business and was admitted on a restricted parolee basis on Mar. 19, 1953. (New York Times, Apr. 30, 1953, 17:1, May 2, 1953, 8:2, Aug. 1, 1953, 4:4.)↩